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Hannah Taylor Final Blog Submission

Hannah Louise Taylor / May 25, 2016May 25, 2016 / Hannah Taylor, Hannah Taylor Final, Uncategorized

Performance Ideas for ‘Love First, Live Incidentally’

As our manifesto states, our theatre company is an all-female group, and this is an aspect which we as a company feel is a unique selling point. Being all female, we wanted to use this to our advantage and create a piece of theatre which celebrated the lives of women.
We began researching into various inspirational women throughout history and came to realise that many of the women we researched faced various issues through life that we weren’t before aware of. One woman that we all agreed had a very interesting story to tell was Zelda Fitzgerald – wife of the well-known American novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Through Scott’s fame and attention, Zelda became pushed aside and ignored, and in the final years of her life, she suffered with bipolar disorder, which was wrongly misdiagnosed in the 1920’s with schizophrenia. The issue of mental health illness is a topic which as a theatre company we feel has become more recognised since the 1920’s. However, we feel that much more could be done to raise awareness on the topic, which is why we have chosen to tell Zelda’s story.
Mental illness becomes over-shadowed by other physical illnesses that seem to be seen as more significant. Bipolar shouldn’t be ignored – and the support for those who suffer with mental illnesses needs to be increased. Throughout our research process, we noticed that Zelda Fitzgerald seemed to be a name that is known by many, however not much is actually known about her life. In choosing to tell her story through a series of narrated scenes, we aimed to take the audience on a journey through the tragic moments of her life from her struggle of being perceived as the socialite flapper girl of the 1920’s, up until her struggle with bipolar in the final moments of her life.

Our performance ‘Love First, Live Incidentally’ portrays five different stages of Zelda’s life using narration, verbatim and forms of physical theatre. These theatrical devices allow the lifting the barriers theatre company to tell the story of Zelda’s life in a way which challenges the performers and aims to raise awareness of mental disorders that aren’t spoken about enough in today’s society.
We chose to use both multi-roling and split-role in ‘Love First, Live Incidentally’ to enable the audience to see each Zelda as a completely different character, which is arguably one of the most common effects of bipolar, where a person suffering from the disorder will experience mood swings that vary from moods of depression to phases of happiness. (NHS, 2016) Each different stage in Zelda’s life shows juxtaposed moments from choreographed dance scenes where the actors are smiling on stage, to moments of manic breakdown scenes where one actor mimes a scream for help, covering her mouth to show how her voice is not heard in society.

‘Love First, Live Incidentally’ is a story told through Zelda’s mind. The performance takes inspiration from Brechtian theatre and hides nothing from the audience. The actors, costume and props remain onstage throughout the duration of the performance, and it is only in the final moments of the play when Zelda dies in a fire at the hospital where she is treated that the actors playing the role of Zelda are able to leave the stage. A physical square onstage is used to represent what we call the ‘Zelda-zone’. This zone is marked out on stage with pieces of crumpled paper, symbolising the many letters that Zelda and Scott sent to each other in the early stages of their relationship. By physically marking out the performance space with crumpled pieces of paper, we are able to represent the erased memories that are a part of Zelda’s past. The lifting the barriers company aim to erase the stigma that surrounds mental health illnesses and show how it shouldn’t be ignored. People who suffer with mental health illness may often feel confined to small spaces which the ‘Zelda –zone’ represents, but we aim to break down this barrier and make audience’s aware of the effects. The ‘Zelda-zone’ is the performance space where characters interact with one another and come to life onstage. Outside of the ‘Zelda-zone’ is the space which is similar to the stage wings, where actors will prepare to go on stage and dress in costume ready to act out a role, however each Zelda sits at the back of the stage as a symbol of Zelda’s apparition of her past.

Character Development

The Given Circumstances

In order to understand my character better it was important for me to first find out her objectives and given circumstances within each scene. According to James Thomas the given circumstances within a play text “put the characters and audience into the here and now of the action” (Thomas, 2005, 28) therefore allowing the actor to create a performance that is believable for its audience. In locating the scene objectives I could then understand what my character wanted to achieve in each scene. The only time my character interacts with another character onstage is when she attempts to convince a friend that she is fine and that nothing is bothering her and that her marriage is not failing. However, the audience can begin to understand that this is not the case and that the thoughts in Zelda mind, which are provoked by the nurse show otherwise, informing that any activities that Zelda takes part in seem to be worthless.

Thomasina Unsworth’s fifty questions exercise

In order to gain a better understanding of my character, I chose to complete Thomasina Unsworth’s fifty questions exercise. Unsworth notes that the exercise can be used in the rehearsal process so that the actor can “remind [themselves] of what [their] character values, fears and reacts to in their life” (Unsworth, 2012, 104).
Much of the text we used to tell Zelda’s story in ‘Love Fist, Live Incidentally’ was taken from the letters written between Zelda and F. Scott. Fitzgerald. As Michael Billington points out, using verbatim in theatre is “a way of incorporating the words of real people, as spoken in private interview or public record, into drama” (Billington, 2012). In the devising process, each member of the lifting the barriers theatre company selected the letters that told Zelda’s happiest memories and also the letters that revealed the lowest points of her life. In using real documents, it allowed us to create a piece of theatre which discusses real events, making the piece more truthful and aims to change the misconception of bipolar disorder.

As Zelda’s life was documented, we chose to tell Zelda’s story through narration. I chose to complete Unsworth’s exercise as though Zelda was being interviewed about her life, and the answers reveal facts about Zelda in a way which I feel she would have answered them. The interview style has allowed me to answer the questions using appropriate word choices that I think Zelda would have used in the 1920s. Many of the question’s I have chosen to answer in detail are questions I feel that Zelda would have had passionate answers for, however, there are a couple of questions that I feel Zelda would have said little about, and these answers are just as important as the descriptive ones.

Below I have chosen my favourite three questions from the list and the answers I have given I feel say a lot about Zelda’s character and offer clues that suggest how Zelda might really feel.

What is your favourite possession?
I guess the ring Scott gave me when he asked me to marry him. It was his mothers. It reminds me of every memory me and Scott have had together. When I look at it…I sometimes want to throw it away and never see it again. But then other times…I look at it and it reminds me that I was once Scott’s opium, and I like that.

If you were an element, what would you be: earth, water, air or fire?
I would be air. At least then I’d be able to breath and be free.

If you were an animal what would you be?
Maybe a bird so I could fly away and see the world.

Mike Alfred’s exercises for the actor

In the very early sessions of our rehearsal process, we began to workshop theatre exercises that we thought would help with the characterisation of each of our characters. A useful exercise for any actor is ‘hot-seating’, which allows the actor to better understand who their character is whilst answering questions that are directed at them by others in the group. Mike Alfred notes that “the session can reveal to the actor the areas in which she is secure and those about which she may not have thought about at all” (Alfreds, 2007, 226). This is interesting to note, as often the questions that the character avoids or says little about can reveal more about a character than what they choose to tell.

Cicely Berry vocal exercise

In rehearsals it was often easy to forget the actual performance space and how important it would be to project our voices, due to the small rehearsal rooms that we practised in. In a recent adaptation of The Great Gatsby performed by the cast of Black Eyed Theatre at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, I felt that one aspect of the performance that let the piece down was the accents and that I found it difficult to hear what the actors were saying at times due to the large space in the auditorium. I too sometimes have difficulty in maintaining an American accent when performing, and as we chose to use split-roles it was important that our accents all sounded the same. To help with projecting my voice, I used Cicely Berry’s vocal technique which required using a piece of cork that is placed between the teeth when speaking so to exercise the jaw muscles. I found the southern American accent to be challenging and in the early rehearsals I tended to speak quickly and so many of my words were lost in translation. In using the vocal technique and exercising the jaw muscles I noticed that my accent became a lot clearer and it helped to slow down the pace of the speech which is extremely important when performing.

Frantic Assembly as Inspiration

To foreshadow what was going to happen to Zelda throughout the play, ‘Love First, Live Incidentally’ begins with a physical movement piece inspired by Frantic Assembly’s chair duets. The sequence “presents a very physical scene of touches, embraces, flirtations, rejections all played at quite a mesmerising speed” (Graham and Hoggett, 2009, 141) which allows the audience to witness every aspect of Zelda’s character and shows the connection that each of the Zelda’s share. At moments in the sequence, performers complete movements in both unison and canon which allows relationships to become apparent.

Costume to help with characterisation

Alongside performing I also worked on the costume for the show with two other creative designers in the company. Costume is important as it helps to bring a character to life and I also found that in the dress rehearsal, the costume helped with characterisation.
The pressure for Zelda Fitzgerald to be dressed in the latest trends would have been crucial in the 1920s as her outfits would have received major attention at the parties hosted by her and Scott Fitzgerald. The people who were invited to their parties would have been inspired by Zelda’s fashion and possibly critiqued her clothing choices. (I can definitely understand Zelda’s pressure to look good before a social gathering, as I’m sure many of us girls can – right?!)
I produced some costume sketches that would indicate the kind of clothing that I thought would suit each Zelda and for what reasons. Due to the budget, many of our costumes were sourced from the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, borrowed from friends or were bought from vintage shops that sold 1920’s style clothes.

Performance Evaluation

Overall I feel that our theatre company put on a show that did exactly what we intended to do – raise awareness of bipolar and give an insight into Zelda’s life. We had a lot of good feedback from the audience who admired the stage pictures we created and the music that we used that transported the audience from the modern day to the jazz age. I do feel that our voices could have been projected more so that the audience members at the back of the auditorium could have heard every spoken word. This is definitely an aspect that I feel could have used more work as some of the lines in the script gave moments of thought were I tended to either look away from the audience or say the line a little quieter because of the emotion I felt.

Works Cited
Alfreds, Mike (2007) Different Every Night: Freeing the Actor. London: Nick Hern Books

Billington, M (2012) V is for verbatim theatre. The Guardian, 8 May. Available from https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/may/08/michael-billington-verbatim-theatre [accessed 20 May 2016].
Crow, P. (2016) Love First, Live Incidentally. Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/27005899661/in/album-72157668230653081/ [accessed 24 May 2016].
Crow, P. (2016) Love First, Live Incidentally. Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/27005686161/in/album-72157668230653081/ [accessed 24 May 2016]

Graham, S. and Hoggett, S. (2009) The frantic assembly book of devising theatre. London and New York: Routledge
NHS (2016) Bipolar disorder – Symptoms – NHS Choices. NHS. Available from http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Bipolar-disorder/Pages/Symptoms.aspx [accessed 20 May 2016]
Taylor, H (2016a) Costume sketch. [image]
Taylor, H (2016b) Costume sketch. [image]
Taylor, H (2016c) Costume sketch. [image]
Taylor, H (2016d) Costume sketch. [image]

Thomas, J. (2005) Script Analysis for Actors, Directors and Designers. USA: Focal Press.
Unsworth, T. (2012) Becoming an Actor. London: Nick Hern Books.

“The beginning and end of everything” (F. Fitzgerald)- Final Blog

Kate Emily Beresford / May 25, 2016 / Kate Beresford, Kate Beresford Final

“All she wanted to do was to love first and live incidentally” (Lifting the Barriers, 2016)

Crowe, P. 2016

“I’m not sure what I’ll do, but…” F Scott Fitzgerald, 1963
Defining My Role

I have been fortunate enough to encompass as many as three roles in my Theatre Company: Producer, Production Manager, and Actor. This is because I have found that the roles of Producer and Production Manger have a lot of overlap and within the narrative of the performance there was the need for another performer.

Firstly my smallest role as an actor. In the performance I am playing the role of the Nurse who is helping Zelda with her treatment and we are playing with the idea that the Nurse is representative of Zelda’s inner monologue. The biggest hurdle I am facing in this role is mastering a southern American accent.

Secondly my role as a Production Manager. Interestingly, I hadn’t considered this as my role until our Stage Manager and Deputy Stage manager presented it to me. Through my role as Producer I had become involved with them and the whole technical department. “A Production Manager needs to have a basic understanding of all elements of technical theatre.” (Leigh, 2016) and with some refreshing I feel I have been able to do that. I have experience in Stage Management roles through University – taking on the roles in various modules – and I have been using this to complete my tasks. After researching into my role as a Producer and Production Manager I have found that the two have overlap and feed into one another.

My primary role as a Producer was not completely new to me. For the last year I have been the President of the University’s Drama Society and this has been able to influence my choices as a Producer for the better. In order to really engage as a Producer I used the IdeasTap’s article “What does a theatre producer actually do?” (Frizell, 2012) to ensure I was approaching the job with the correct mind set. Firstly “Looking after the money” (Frizell, 2012) is one of the most important roles in the company and this includes attracting money to the company and managing the budget. I was also responsible for “Bringing people together” (Friell, 2012) which for me meant ensuring that all departments of the theatre company are aware of their roles and working towards the same vision and goal.

I also feel that this means ensuring that the group remains cohesive and committed to one another and maintaining the strong relationships that we went into this project having. “Picking the right project” (Frizell, 2012) was going to be more of a difficult one. As this piece was a collaborative group effort it meant that it wasn’t solely one person’s choice and so I decided to make the whole process as democratic as possible. We would all anonymously vote, giving three preferences, and we would ultimately make our decision that way. The most important aspect of my role, I feel, is “Problem solving” (Frizell, 2012) as this is the only way we can continue and develop. As Producer, sometimes, I will have to make decisions that the company as a whole are not happy with and will have to play the ‘bad-guy’ but I take this I in my stride as I want to create exciting and insightful theatre.

“Nothing’s surer, the rich get richer” F Scott Fitzgerald (1991, 75)
Fundraising

An aspect of the Producer’s role that immediately jumps to mind is managing the money. We quickly realised as a company that in order to market our show and present the world of Zelda we needed money. We were donated £200 from the Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts, and I was able to initially budget this out, but it became apparent quite quickly that we would be stretched.

Budget Prior to Fundraising (2016)

As we are student Theatre Company it means that we don’t have access to the same grants, or pots of money, available to those functioning in the real world. This prompted us to fundraise for ourselves through a means of a Bake Sale, Pub Quiz and a Crowd Funder. Fundraising was beneficial for our company in two ways: firstly and most importantly it would provide us with the finances we would need to create our show. Secondly it created marketing events where we could advertise ourselves as a company as well as our production.

I began by contacting local businesses to find out whether they would be willing to donate goods or services as prizes and we were fortunate enough to receive Afternoon Tea for two from Thomas 2 café. This allowed us to hold a raffle alongside the bake sale as a means of generating more funds for the show and it proved to be successful. However, as the saying goes, “You must spend money to make money” (Plautus) and so through the small costs of ingredients and prizes we were able to generate a total of £78.06 of profit at the Pub Quiz and Bake Sale.

I was also tasked with writing our online Crowdfunding Campaign. I opted for the website Indiegogo; as it allowed us to keep whatever funds we generated from the campaign. A crowd funder allows people all over the world to donate money to a variety of causes. This put a particular importance on the campaign as I had to present the views of the company as well as describe the cause (in this case our show) that we were asking for donations. In return we offered a selection of Perks in return for a donation, this included featuring in the programme or a thank you letter.

The entire campaign can be seen at the Indigogo Page which can be accessed at –
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/love-first-live-incidentally#/

After website expenses came out of this we were able to generate £84.58 through creating this campaign and then simply sharing it on Social Media.

The Budget Now

Budget For Performance (2016)

If we compare how we were planning on spending our money, both with and without the fundraising, we can see that it was beneficial to fund raise as it allowed us to invest significantly more into our show’s elements, particularly costume.

“I am a woman and my business is to hold things together.” F Scott Fitzgerald
Maintaining Lifting the Barriers

As Producer for Lifting the Barriers another one of my responsibilities is scheduling and organising rehearsals. As initial rehearsals would be running alongside our other modules I created a table that would be regularly updated that would show everyone’s free time so that we could organise rehearsals around this.

Free-time Schedule 2016

This method was successful to begin with, however manging the free time of a group of ten proved to be difficult and the Company wanted to be able to make long term plans. This prompted me to create a long term rehearsal schedule from then until show day. This was beneficial to us as a company in multiple ways. Firstly it meant there were no excuses. The cast and crew had been provided with the schedule in advance meaning, unless they had specified otherwise in advance then they should be attending everything. Secondly it meant that our director was given the time to plan and develop rehearsals for the final show.

Schedule Accessible at https://liftingthebarriers.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/producer/]

Alongside the rehearsal schedule I created a Doodle-poll where I inputted all our rehearsal dates and I asked the cast to check which ones they could and couldn’t attend. This meant that we were able to check availability and plan rehearsals accordingly. Ultimately this meant that the company were able to use rehearsal time effectively and that it wouldn’t be a waste. My aim was to ensure that we were being effective with our time.

My Doodle-poll. (Accessibly at the link below)
http://doodle.com/poll/qupm9szb4bmnz7kn

It was necessary for me to remain a leader throughout the whole process as “one really important part of a producer’s role is maintaining a view of the ‘big picture’ at all times in the production process” (Seabright, 2010, p.12). It was necessary for me to ensure that the company were sticking to both the principles of the Company manifesto but also maintaining their attention on the show.

One way in which I did this was through working closely with all the separate departments and ensuring that everyone was being updated on changes. As Producer I became a mediator between departments and was often there to help find a means of compromise between designs and practicalities. I worked particularly closely with the Technical Team and would hold regular meetings with them and the Director. These meetings became more frequent as the production developed and the “one key purpose of these [production] meetings is to keep the director updated on how the production side of things is going” (Seabright, 2010, p.272).

I found that through having a strong involvement with all the individual departments as well as the Company as a collective I was able to manage and supervise all the elements successfully. I feel it was a success because the design elements, both technically and creatively, all fed into the overall atmosphere and composition of the performance.

“You can change or stay the same” F. Scott Fitzgerald
Becoming more than a Producer

Crowe, P (2016)

As our piece Love First, Live Incidentally developed it became clear to Lifting the Barriers that we would need another actor so that we could include the physical representation of Zelda’s mental illness on the stage. This was presented through a character that I would play, the nurse. I was also the voice of Eleanor “Bobbie” Lanahan, who was our narrator and granddaughter of Zelda Fitzgerald. This meant that I would have to research and develop a character of the nurse and the biggest obstacle that I had to overcome was mastering the American accent and ensuring it didn’t sound like the narrator.

Crowe, P (2016)

Despite entering the process not intending to have an acting role I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of creating my character. During feedback on my performance I was tasked with researching how a nurse would manoeuvre a patient and to use that in my performance to make it more believable. I found that the NHS website was very helpful and provided me with excellent advice such as “straight back and bend your knees” and “keep any weight close to your body” (NHS, 2016).

As I stated, I was also the narrator for the performance. The inclusion of a narrator was a group decision as we felt that it aided the storytelling. Initially we had the narrator as a British voice but it seemed out of place among the other accents and so we adapted it and put it to the real life granddaughter of Zelda Fitzgerald.
I thoroughly enjoyed being given the opportunity to perform in Love First, Live Incidentally.

Crowe, P (2016)

“The Beginning and end of everything” F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Show

Show day came around very quickly for Lifting the Barriers and it hadn’t felt like five minutes since we had created our company.

In order to ensure that everything ran smoothly for or Tech and for Show Day, myself and the Stage Management Team (Jess and Tina) met to finalise the cues and create a schedule for the day. Following a meeting with the Tech Team from the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre we decided that I should programme our sounds into Qlab prior to the day, to ensure that we made the most of our time in the space. This was proven to be a success and we often ran ahead which firstly meant the atmosphere on show day was very relaxed and it gave people a longer dinner break to see family and friends before the show.

I was incredibly apprehensive about creating the staging for our performance on Show day as it would be the first time we had seen it in full affect. After approximately two hours of trial and error in getting the lengths of fishing wire right, myself and the team, stood back and felt proud of our creation.
As you can see from the image below it was a striking and feminine set and it presented everything we hoped it would.

Crowe, P. (2016)

The whole day seemed to be a success from the Cue to Cue, to the Dress Run and finally the show itself. We received incredibly positive feedback from tutors and peers which has lent to a fantastic final show at University.

Crowe, P. (2016)

Works Cited
Beresford K. (2016) Free-time Schedule.

Beresford K. (2016) Budget – Prior to Fundraising. [online] Available https://liftingthebarriers.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/producer/ [Accessed] 25/05/16

Beresford, K. (2016) Budget for Performance. [online] Available https://liftingthebarriers.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/producer/ [Accessed] 25/05/16

Crowe, P. (2016) Love First, Live Incidentally [Online] Available https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/albums [Accessed] 25/05/2016

Fitzgerald, F. (1934) Tender Is the Night. Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Fitzgerald, S. (1991) The Great Gatsby. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Frizell, N. (2012) What does a theatre producer actually do? [online] London: IdeasTap. Available from: http://www.ideastap.com/IdeasMag/the-knowledge/what-does-a-theatre-producer-actually-do [Accessed 23 April 2016]

Lifting the Barriers (2016) Love First, Live Incidentally. Lincoln: University Of Lincoln.

Leigh, J. (2016) So you want to be a Production Manager. [online] London: Drama UK. Available from: https://www.dramauk.co.uk/articles/so_you_want_to_be_a_production_manager…. [Accessed 23 April 2016]

NHS (2016) Moving and Handling the person you care for. [online] Available http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/pages/mobility-problems-carers.aspx [Accessed 25/05/2016]

Seabright, J. (2010) So You Want to be a Theatre Producer? London: Nick Hern Books.

Madeleine Harris Final blog

Madeleine Harris / May 25, 2016 / Maddie Harris Final

First steps to glory

“We want everyone to be able to enjoy theatre. We fund organisations across England and those that tour widely” (Arts Council England, 2016) From the beginning of our process we realised that, although we wanted to deal with serious subjects that we wanted the audience to enjoy the theatre, like the Arts Council England. We also agree with them funding organisations like ours to tour as that may be where Lifting the Barriers moves on to.

When we had the 10 people set in our theatre company, it became clear that five of us wanted to act. I decided on acting as my primary marked role in the group and creative designer as my production role. We decided that as three of us wanted to be in charge of costume. Us three came to the decision that as a minor group the creative team would handle not only the costume but make-up and some of the set too (working with the stage managers on the set). As our concept was vast in terms of time period, all kinds of women from all walks of life and ages. There was a huge task for the creative team to present the women in a way that exposed the most imaginative and innovative versions of each characters. That is why we decided once in the process we would divide up the women so we would have three and a bit each.

Starting with countless women we narrowed it down to five characters and each, good or bad, had an effect on our lives. The decision to narrow the time time frame to around the 19^th and 20^th Century, creating a list of these characters; Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Zelda Fitzgerald, Myra Hindley, Amy Winehouse and Eva Braun, with Lily Elbe as a minor character. This diverse group enabled us to create a fully rounded image of women in the time period we set. I decided I would like to pursue Jackie Kennedy as she had a complicated life in front of and behind the cameras.

The one girl to rule them all

After debating we were aware that five women would be too much for an hour performance. We could not delve deep enough into the characters to justify them being on stage. So when we honed them down we realised that Zelda Fitzgerald would be the most exciting to explore. We decided very early on that we would have five different Zelda’s, each representing a part of her life. Mine was the last Zelda. She was out of control, her doctors had even misdiagnosed her as schizophrenic. Nowadays she would have been diagnosed with bipolar. She had highs and lows and a singular voice in her head that told her she was crazy. After researching bipolar it has become clear the highs she experienced whilst in the hype of the 1920s where due to her obsession with alcohol which can be associated with the highs of bipolar, “Individuals [on highs] can also experience hypomania, which is a less severe form of mania, when they’re unusually friendly, outgoing and very productive, and generally report feeling incredibly good.” (ULifeline, 2016). She was the life and soul of the party, the ultimate flapper girl. It was not just her sparkling personality that made her like this, it was the hypomania that took over her whole self.

A bit o’ screaming

When rehearsing the last Zelda it became clear that she was lost. I want to convey that in the most clear form. Moving rapidly, creating a persona that shows she is unsure of her decisions. What myself and the director also feel is important is to show how the institution she was kept in effected her mental state. I want it to be clear from the previous Zelda to mine that there is a clear change. The asylum has effected her so that is not enable to separate her thoughts because of her treatment there everything is jumbled together. For example, there is a moment when I say “Screaming as I fell, screaming as he fell./ I never fully recovered after my daddy’s passing.” I want that moment to be split in two so the audience can feel Zelda’s disillusion. Her disillusion is something we worked hard to create in rehearsals. At first the whole group decided on a panic-attack to show her emotional turmoil. Then as we presented our work it was decided to change this idea, tone it down slightly so the audience would not feel concern for me but for Zelda instead. That is how myself and the director came up with the final idea of having me shoved in the room, then pacing like a caged animal. I would catch out the eye of an audience member and stare at them as I paced so to show my crazed state. Hopefully the audience member will feel like they are Scott. This seems to show the desperation and love that I feel Zelda is in need of. After this is a silent scream. We played around with the idea of a screaming but we felt performing it in this way shows the emotion on a higher level. There was no need for sound, a silent scream created a more intense atmosphere. When speaking I want there to be a sense of urgency. To almost shock the audience so when I say “no one forced me this time.” I want for it to echo around the room, playing in people ears and minds. Again this was not our first idea for this sentence, at first I wanted to be more upset but then I realise it is empowering for her and at that moment in time empowering for Zelda is crazed. Another part of my monologue that we wanted to show as Zelda being crazed was the dripping. We tried this all sorts of ways, having a tap dripping sound with me saying that it dripped was one of our favourite choices. Realising after presenting the scene for others that it would be more effective to have me saying dripping, but in a way that embodied the drip.

Altogether my monologue should display a mania that is not seen in the other Zelda’s. She is beaten down but has a slight glimmer of hope to get better. When rehearsing I have decided to create this through the rise and fall of my tone, almost like a song, it climaxes when Zelda’s emotions are at their highest.

Lifting those darn barriers

When it was decided who was to play which Zelda we starting workshopping. We used two or three rehearsals to explore the nature of Zelda in all sorts of ways. With how she would have walked and spoken seemed a particularly good exercise and I could connect with Zelda deeply. As a group we found, especially walking like her created a sense of unity that we carried through with us when creating our characters.

One of the first scenes we staged was a physical theatre section in which we explored our characters in three movements. I chose mine to show how she felt angered and maddened by the treatment in the asylum. This exploration of Zelda enabled us to create not only a perfect foreshadowing of the events to come, but also showed the audience that we were as one.

A physical theatre performance that we were inspired by was Frantic Assembly’s ‘Chair Duet’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCu5MeHnDyk We watched the duet and found that it could be useful, we split into two groups and created our own inspired by Zelda’s life. After performing the duets we realised that if we combined them that the audience could understand the journey of Zelda. We added movements from the first physical theatre section we created but mixed them so for example I performed one that matched Abigail’s movement to show that we were all Zelda.

In other group sections such as the mirror physical section we decided that the audience had to be clear that we all Zelda. So the first time the other Zelda’s and I mirrored each other we as decided it should be almost mechanical looking. We worked hard to rehearse this section as it needed to look exact. If we looked exactly the same the first time it would create a sense of unity. When first rehearsing this section we realised that to create the the right sense of mirroring we needed to use the bamboo stick exercise that a few of us had participated in before. As a physical theatre exercise it gave us the footing to create an intense experience that linked all the Zelda’s together. We started by pretending there was a bamboo stick between us then explored how we could move around the room whilst keeping the connection between us, “pair exercises with imagined link (string or stick) which is used for alter body position, to move around the space and finally to experiment with moving towards or away from each other” (Frost, Yarrow, 2007, 8) The spacial awareness is important in this section as shows the closeness of our characters. I found this innovative work that set our mind racing for how to start choreographing the mirror section.

We also decided that all five Zelda’s should sit at the back like actors watching the performance in the dark ready to come on as our characters. This creates a brilliant stage picture and we felt inspired by Brecht’s work when creating this. Taking inspiration from Brecht in this way allowed us to be on stage constantly and therefore look like the ghosts of Zelda whilst a scene was being performed. Whether it was Zelda’s past, present or future that was sitting at the back the ominous tone created an interesting dynamic. We were both actors and phantom creatures of Zelda’s story.

Costuming the stars

We decided that as a costume team we wanted a variety of different role; set, make-up/hair and costume, so we became the creative designers. As the weeks progressed, we realised that the stage managers wanted to and should be in charge of set as they were creating the stage picture. We thought that it fitted better with their job roles than ours.

So as the group decided on Zelda Fitzgerald it was clear we would need to costume for a period piece. She was incredibly fashion conscious woman and this showed through her life, we want to show throughout the show.

Once all the Zelda’s were decided upon we thought that the first two Zelda’s were from 1918 to 1924 as those were challenging years in Zelda’s life. They were glamorous characters so we decided to put them in flapper dresses. This was after extensive research on the era, “The passing of bustles and corsets gave clothing designers much greater freedom of expression resulting in innovative styling.” (1920-30.com, 2012). The influence from the the era creates a better sense of what we were costuming the girls in.

As we moved on to 1925 Zelda we were able to research into these outfits and fashion. When researching that Zelda would have had pencil shape body and this fitted well with the fashion, “A comparison of 1920s fashion prints with period photographs provide a realistic look at 1920s designer fashions and the flapper dress. Shapely curves were concealed and flat-chested was in” (Victoriana Magazine, 2016). As Zelda fitted the ‘flapper type’, we felt this should reflect in how she was dressed in this section. As Zelda and Scott were in Paris we decided that her costume should be elegant with a fashionable edge. We managed to source a dress from a friend with this sort of look and thankfully it is was navy so mirrored her heart-broken nature.

The most interesting was ballet Zelda whom was set in 1927. It was tough to source as we wanted to get the exact look but also be identifiable for audiences. We ended up with a look that showed her commitment as it was a full ballet outfit with a fashionable skirt that fortunately looked like a ballet skirt. The reason for this was the actress did not feel comfortable in a see-through skirt so we thought the fashion skirt and white tights would be more appropriate. The most difficult part of the outfit to source was the shoes as the cost and fit were not compatible with our budget and the actress. The easiest part of this outfit was the sentiment behind it, Zelda was determined and excited about her future so this costume reflected her concentration on her career.

The last Zelda, set in 1948 was the hardest costume. Through research into asylums of that time we came to the conclusion that she should wear a beige, sack dress that represented her sadness and depravity. We looked round in many vintage and charity shops until we found a hemp cream, lifeless dress, with a waist so it could double up as other characters in the dances etc. For the nurse we had to go online and trail through Amazon and Ebay to find the correct dress. Finally they were both sourced and thankfully looked fantastic on stage.

Work Cited

1920-30.com, (2016). 1920’s Womens Fashions. [online] 1920-30.com. Available at: http://www.1920-30.com/fashion/ [Accessed 25 May 2016].

Arts Council England, (2016). Supporting theatre Arts Council England. [online] Artscouncil.org.uk. Available at: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/supporting-arts-and-culture/supporting-theatre [Accessed 24 May 2016].

Frost, A., Yarrow, R. (2007) Improvisation in Drama. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

ULifeline, (2016). The Highs and Lows of Bipolar Disorder – ULifeline. [online] Ulifeline.org. Available at: http://www.ulifeline.org/clemson/articles/429-the-highs-and-lows-of-bipolar-disorder [Accessed 20 May 2016].

Victoriana.com, (2016). 1920s Fashion, Dresses and Clothing. [online] Victoriana.com. Available at: http://www.victoriana.com/Fashion/1920s/ [Accessed 25 May 2016].

Kate Kelly Final Blog Submission

Kate Kelly / May 25, 2016 / Kate Kelly, Kate Kelly Final

Marketing officers are vital to a theatre company and all areas of theatre. It is the role of marketing to sell the tickets for the shows. What I believe my role of a marketing officer is to “manage all aspects of the theatre’s publicity and advertising material” (The Theatres Trust, 2016). In our theatre company there are two marketing officers, myself and Megan Langer. When I first became marketing officer it was important for me to immediately start getting our name out there through social media, before we had even created the concept for our show. This is a key role for a marketing officer, we needed to create a cohesive marketing campaign not only for our company but also for our upcoming debut show.

In the early stages of our theatre company myself and Megan had a meeting to discuss what areas of marketing each of us would contribute too. The duties that I was in charge of in terms of marketing were to create a marketing plan that we could stick too and adjust on an excel spreadsheet, organising the fundraising events and contacting places that we wished to hold them. We also decided at a later date that I would create the posters and flyers. For our social media accounts we shared the responsibilities to make sure there was a constant supply of content for our followers to interact with.

Fundraising

As a marketing team one thing we had to think about was fundraising. Fundraising is a great way of getting more money for our show but also another way of getting our show name out there.

In the first meeting we planned out different areas of marketing and fundraising that we wished to achieve. Fundraising events:

Pub Quiz (in the swan)
Raffle (talk to producer about company’s giving/offer prizes)
Bake sale? Is we can make our costs small enough?
Crowd-funding

A very modern way of raising money is through Indiegogo or another crowd funding website. The traditional way of using this website is to set a target of money that we want to raise and if we don’t raise enough we don’t get the money. I thought that this was a risky move with us being a student company so we found an option that said that whatever people donate we keep even if we don’t meet our target. The smallest target that we were allowed was £500. We want to get around half of that, but any money would be appreciated. The start date for our campaign was the 4^th March, we set the end date for April 12^th with just over a month to our show. The thinking with this was so we had the money in our bank so it can be used instantly.

The challenged of crowd-funding was that you are relying on people interested enough to click a link. We set up the crowdfunding for just over a month. There was a slow start to the campaign with only getting £15 of our goal for a long period of time. However within the last week of the campaign there was a sharp increase in donations. In the last week I contacted people personally who I believed would want to support myself and our campaign. I found this to be very successful as each person I contacted donated as much as they could.

Campaign Activity from Indiegogo (2016)

Overall we made £100 before Indiegogo and PayPal took their expenses out our total profit was £84.58. With this money it allowed us as a marketing team to achieve what we wanted when printing our flyers and posters.

To further the fundraising for our performance and also for further marketing we held two events. The first of this was on the 7^th of April when we hosted a pub quiz at the university’s student pub The Swan. The response from the event was an overall success. Not only did we raise a fair amount of money but the people who came enjoyed themselves. For our event we charged £1 per person and capped the teams to a maximum of six people so the teams didn’t get to big. We had a great turn out and made £42 with a profit of £30 when taking away the money spent on prizes.

We really wanted to do a bake sale, however we were unsure about whether it was a viable idea. It was also a way of getting our theatre company to work together and pitch in. The cakes that were on sale were a mixture from a selection that we made as a marketing team and cakes that were donations. When we held our bake sale on the 12^th April. At the same time as our bake sale we held a small raffle that will be drawn on the 25^th May after the end of term. Our producer Kate contacted companies for prizes and a small café called Thomas 2 got back to her with a token for afternoon tea for two, which we then used for our prizes. We made altogether from the bake sale and the small raffle that we held was £58.42 minus our spending’s for ingredients left us with a profit of £48.06

Printed Media

One of the main aspects of marketing is the print media and for our print this means the image. This is the first thing that an audience member will see of your show, so it needs to be interesting enough to get an audience intrigued but it must also not be too far away from your show. When constructing the flyers I looked at the marketing copy Megan made while also representing the feel of our show.

The initial idea that I had for the image was to have a photo that layered all 5 of the actresses faces to show that there were 5 women playing one character as this is central to the show. When taking the photos it was key that the eyes aligned so when they photos were layered there would be a focus point.

Lifting the Barriers (2016a)

This was our finished photo. We sent these photos off to the marketing manager of LPAC Julie for her to approve. She got back to us saying that “it is a little soft focus” (Ellerby, 2016) so that it lacks intensity. We worked closely with her to create the second and final lot of photos. She suggested that we recreated an old photo of Zelda and F Scott. Julie was an important point of call for us to be successful at marketing you should “Begin to build up the trust between you and your key contacts” (Caines, 2012) to create a relationship that could help you in the future.

Anonymous.

While designing our flyers the back of the poster felt empty with only the copy and our social media information. To stop this I decided to put a contrasting picture of Zelda to fill the space. The front to be a happy image of the couple in love and on the back to have her looking sad. This shows the contrast of her bipolar when Zelda was alive.

When recreating the second image we chose just one actress to represent Zelda however after feedback and discussion with our tutor Dominic we decided that a good marketing ploy was to have the same flyer but have 5 different variations. Meaning that we recreate the photo with all 5 actresses playing Zelda to have their own flyer. This we hope would keep people interest as it would catch people off guard and people may want to collect them all.

When designing the final flyers I wanted to keep everything clear and simple so that it is easy for people to read the vital information about our show. I took inspiration from the poster of The Machine they’re Secretly Building (below) I liked how they had one main photo to catch the eye. Their poster is a great example of thorough thinking. Everything from the font to the picture was thought about. When choosing the font for our poster I thought about the fact both Zelda and Scott were writers so I used a font that had the feeling of being type written.

(Proto-type, 2016a)

I wanted to have a hint of art deco in the poster and flyers. When researching the 1920s and art deco I didn’t want to make the whole poster complete 1920’s as that doesn’t gel completely with our piece as it isn’t all set in the 1920s and spans 30 years of Zelda Fitzgerald’s life. I still wanted to keep an aspect of this era but keep it subtle so I researched into art deco as I know this was big at the time. When doing this I found that there were a lot of lines and it was very simple.

(Pinterest, 2016)

(Loomdecor, 2016)

Our Final Flyers for clearer version click the link.

(Lifting the Barriers, 2016b)

(Lifting The Barriers, 2016c)

Social Media

The first steps in marketing in my mind is Social Media. This gives us a connection with our potential audience and keep them intrigued in our performance. It was important for me to use pictures of our rehearsal room to show snippets of our performance to draw people in. it was important for me to let the audience feel involved in our show. It is important to make sure that the marketing campaign is succinct “a coordinated effort is much more effective.” (Hughesy, 2011) you shouldn’t overload the audience with information. Which is why we did not keep leafleting and emailing our potential audience as this could irritate people. Facebook was out main form of interaction with our audience. It was where we advertised our fundraising events and had an event page for our show.

In the last week before our performance, I ‘boosted’ one of our Facebook posts. Boosted means that I paid for the post to become an advert. Instead of promoting the page I decided to just promote the post that had a link to LPAC’s website that sold out tickets. When setting up the advert I went back to our mission statement to see who would be the best to target with this advert. Below our the outcomes of the advert. I did not expect it to reach many people but as it was the final week, it was the final push. I feel that it was worth it as it reached 928 people that might not have seen it originally.

(Lifting the Barriers, 2016d)

There were a two days that were important to our project, the first being world book day and second world health day. We took these days as great opportunities for marketing and getting our show out into the public.

On world book day (March 3^rd) we thought that it would be a nice idea to introduce our company to our social media followers as it was early on in our process. A nice way of doing this was to interweave it with world book day as our performance was centred on Zelda and F Scott Fitzgerald who were both novelists. During our rehearsals that day I went around and asked our company in turn what their favourite book is and why?

(Kelly, 2016a)

On World Health Day (7^th April) we wished to highlight another aspect of our show. This time being awareness of mental illness. Zelda suffered throughout her life with mental illness and we thought that this was a key factor to raise with our audience. To do this we went and asked our potential and target audience members on their opinions on mental health with the question “is enough being done to lift the barriers of mental health”. We then shared photos of people’s answers on our Facebook page. There was an overarching theme in people’s answers and this was that people believed there was still much that needed to be done. This resembled our group view as a company, which helps us to understand there is a need for our show and our representation of Zelda’s bipolar.

(Kelly, 2016b)

Reflection

We sold 142 tickets for our debut performance. For our first show and the first of the degree shows I am happy with the turnout. For the fundraising in total we raised an extra £162.64 onto our already existing £200 budget given to us by the university.

A member of the audience that came to see the performance later went on to review the show. The review was written by someone who was not on our course and was not a friend or family member of the company meaning that our marketing was successful to pull in a third party audience member. The reason she states that she came to the show was because she has “a fascination with the 1920’s; the glamour and the age of a new women” (Ordinary Acts of Bravery, 2016). This to me shows that our marketing was successful as our flyers reflected the content of our show.

Works Cited

Anonymous. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald [image]. Available from http://www.vogue.com/13288144/zelda-fitzgerald-birthday/ [Accessed 24th May 2016].

Caines, M. (2012) Theatre Marketing top tips from West Yorkshire Playhouse. [online] Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2012/oct/30/theatre-marketing-tips-west-yorkshire-playhouse [Accessed 25th May 2016]

Ellerby, J. (2016) Copy and Image. [email] Sent to Julie Ellerby, 4 March.

Hughesy, C. (2011) Top 15 Theatre Marketing Tactics. [online] Theatre People. Available from: http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/top-15-theatre-marketing-tactics/ [Accessed 23rd May 2016]

Indiegogo. (2016) Campaign Activity. [online] Available from: https://www.indiegogo.com/command_center/love-first-live-incidentally#/insights. [Accessed 24th May 2016]

Kelly, K. (2016a) World Book Day Instagram post [image].

Kelly, K. (2016b) World Health Day Facebook Photo [image].

Lifting the Barriers. (2016a) Flyer photo first attempt [image].

Lifting the Barriers. (2016b) Front of Flyers [image].

Lifting the Barriers. (2016c) Back of Flyers [image].

Lifting the Barriers. (2016d) Results for post Engagement Advert [image].

Loomdecor (2016) Tan and Black Art Deco Fabric [image].

Ordinary Acts of Bravery. (2016) Love First, Live Incidentally: Play Review & A little bit of Zizzi’s. [blog]. 18 May. Available from https://ordinaryactsofbravery.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/love-first-live-incidentally-play-review-a-little-bit-of-zizzis/ [accessed 25th May 2016].

Pinterest (2016) Art Deco Fan Ceramic Tile [image].

Proto-type. (2016a) A Machine They’re Secretly Building poster [image].

The Theatres Trust (2016) Who works in a theatre? London: The Theatres Trust. Available from http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/resources/exploring-theatres/who-works-in-a-theatre [accessed 1st March 2016].

Jessica Carter- Final Blog!

Jessica Carter / May 25, 2016 / Jess Carter, Jess Carter Final

The Start of Everything.

Starting a theatre company never sounded easy, although, with the right people who knows! After discussing who would take on what job roles Tina and I decided that we would need to list our individual job roles as we made up the stage management team. Tina was the Assistant, and I the Deputy. I wanted to take on the challenge of stage managing; I have done it once before and found a real passion for it, more so than acting, so I was jumping at the chance to do it again. One of the elements I’m most excited for is calling the show, this is where I say things like ‘LX 1 go’ and ‘standby SQ 3’, meaning I cue the lights and sound and operate it on the day of the show! It was important that as the stage management team we defined what we would undertake as we wanted to ensure all bases were covered.

Stage Manager	Roles
Jessica Carter (Deputy)	Technical, Light and sound technical prompt script for the tech team Lighting and sound cue sheets.
Kristina Hollier (Assistant)	Props department, Costume, set stage on day, Prop costume and sound prompt script, Props and costume list.
Both	Rehearsal notes (altering each session), Preparing the set for the stage (love letters, risk assessment, technical rider, day and contact list)

After this I decided that I would research some popular West End shows and see if their stage managers had any advice. Two stage managers (SM) I looked into were Andrew Speed, who works with the National Theatre, and Marybeth Abel, who works for Wicked. Andrew, in his interview for Careers at the National, discusses the importance of his role. Additionally how his plays a ‘‘facilitating part of the theatre’’ with his role liaising with every department. In rehearsals it is vital that information gets shared between every department, as if certain information isn’t not shared with the correct people if may affect the performance. He also discusses the pivotal point where the drama moves to the stage; this is where you take a more active role. In Marybeth’s interview, like Andrew Speed, Marybeth talks about the importance of communication in between departments.

Roles both SM’s discusses they undertake are;

Checking the safety of everyone (Health & Safety),
Ensuring the actors turn up,
Ensuring the scene changes occur smoothly,
Organisation skills,
People skills and be prepared,
Overseeing departments,

Although, Andrew said the most useful advice he could offer was to, ‘keep your head when everyone around you are losing theirs’. Which is what I attempted to remind myself whilst rehearsing.

Lending a Hand

13282035_10209274087748169_243328798_n — Testing the letters (Carter, 2016)

Recently whilst the cast were work shopping ideas; Tina and I have been making notes from rehearsals about the script and then later editing it. This has been very beneficial as it meant the actors are kept up to date with any changes with their scenes and are not memorizing old scripts. We have been taking this is in turn. As well as communicating with Chloe, the director, and each other to sure that we keep her vision alive. By constantly editing and adapting the script it means we will be able to have a finished product sooner rather than later! Whilst making rehearsal notes I have been making notes of any set or props we will need to source as the sooner we can get these the sooner the cast can use them. Tina and Chloe had a great idea of creating a ‘Zelda zone’ which would be a square made of scrunched up paper, which the actors would perform in. In addition we would hang love letters up from the ceiling which the cast would pull down and read. As Zelda often wrote love letters to her husband we thought we would use in the set and in the script too as verbatim. Tina and I decided that we would keep the square small in order to show how confined Zelda was in her life. She was seen as; muse, a socialite, a flapper as well as many more things. Although we wanted her real passion, writing, to influence our performing space.

studio — Recording in the Studio (Carter, 2016)

Another role I undertook as DSM was to run the rehearsal when the director or producer weren’t available. I knew the script well enough as I had been editing it so got the cast to run the entire performance although stopped when it seemed necessary. Other jobs were to record the Narrator and interviewee, I was luckily enough to source a recording studio for this so we were able to have high quality recording. Also Tina and I made all of the Zelda Zone and hanging love letters. I researched some of the letters Zelda had sent to Scott, her husband, and used them. One letter I used was this;

“I wish we could spend July by the sea, browning ourselves and feeling water-weighted hair flow behind us from a dive. I wish our gravest concerns were the summer gnats. I wish we were hungry for hot dogs and dopes, and it would be nice to smell the starch of summer linens and the faint odor of talc in blistering summer bath houses … We could lie in long citoneuse beams of the five o’clock sun on the plage at Juan-les-Pins and hear the sound of the drum and piano being scooped out to sea by the waves.” (Goodreads, 2016).

I was able to find numerous letters sent from Zelda so I used them in the set. Additionally I wanted them to look worn out and crushed, kind of like how I perceived Zelda to have felt so I tea stained them. Also we decided that the researcher’s desk would have normal paper screwed up coming from the corner of it and flowing into the square. This shows the link between us and Zelda as Charley’s character of the researcher represents us, as we have been looking into her life. This took ages, but the end result was immense….but I’m getting ahead of myself!

26470430403_6169c258b6_k — (Crowe, 2016)

Seeing the Space

We were able to book one of our rehearsal in the auditorium which is the space in which we perform. This was beneficial for the entire company; the actors were able to work in the space, whilst I was able to think about the set. I realised we would have to hang the letters from the lighting rig as the grid was only above the audience. Additionally Chloe and I were able to discuss the size of the Zelda Zone, as we had taken influence from Brecht we wanted everything to be visible to the audience at all times, so we need to take that into consideration. We decided that the Zelda Zone would be 16 x 14 (steps) as we felt we need to adapt to the large stage however still wanted Zelda to feel trapped. After seeing the space issues which were raised were:

How many letters we need to make it effective,
Are the actresses able to pull the letters down safely?
How do we ensure that the letters don’t drop randomly?
Also how do ensure that the letters don’t catch fire being so close to the lighting?

One of my duties as part of the stage management team is health and safety; I will need to talk to the in-house tech team and see what they can suggest as well as going into the space and trying hanging the letters down.

The Final Countdown

In the last few weeks running up to the performance, it has been all systems go. After seeing the space I made sure in every rehearsal the actors were acting in the Zelda Zone in order to get them used to the space. Additionally after Charley, the lighting and sound designer, had sourced all the sounds and cleared them with Chloe I was able to make the BOOK. The book consists of: lighting and sound cues, prompt script, technical rider, day rider, contact list, props sheet and source sheet. It basically includes everything which is to do with the show. My prompt script would include both lighting and sound cues, whereas Tina’s would only include the sounds as she is only operating that one. After changing the places of a few of the songs, I then had to go back to the cue sheets and change them so they were correct.

Before our tech day we wanted to be as prepared as we could so we wanted to have these things sorted:

All music sorted on Qlab,
All props sourced,
Letters to be tea stained and fishing wire attached,
Lighting and sound cue sheets ready to use and
Prompt script completed.

The tech went well, we were able to test sound levels and sort out the lighting, which gave us plenty of time to run a cue to cue. It was good to see everything coming together although Tina and I did have a few notes for the cast which we noticed from the technical box. We past them on to Chloe to inform the rest of the group; they were only minor things like projecting your voice, making sure all the Zeldas sit the same and ensuring that the projection screen is placed in the right position as if not it would stop the audience from seeing the video.

SHOWTIME

On the day of the show, we had decided that all crew (both DSM, ASM, Producer, Technical Designer and Director) would come in at 09:00. This meant we could set up the stage and add in the haze we wanted to use for the fire; additionally it meant that the cast were not just hanging around getting bored. We had to experiment with the fishing wire as the lighting rigging was A LOT higher than we expected so we had to spend some time on fixing this. However, we were done by half ten so we then just had to mark the stage where certain set needed to go.

Overall I couldn’t not have been happier with how the set looked. Especially as we weren’t able to try the hanging letters out before. The fishing wire almost seemed invisible! When the cast arrived at 11:00 we decided that we would do at cue to cue. This was again good to run as we needed to double check sound levels, as the last thing we wanted was to not be able to hear the actors over the music. Additionally Tina and I had to make sure we checked over our risk assessment to ensure the safety of the cast and crew. Whilst the actors got into costume and make up it meant Tina and I could practice using the headphones and run another cue to cue trying out the haze too. The stage was then reset and ready for the debut performance. Whilst the actors waited in the wings for their cue, I was given clearance and the show got underway.

26979758262_e84ae607b4_k — (Crowe, 2016)

The actual performance went really well, I was happy to have Tina in the tech box with me as I was a little nervous however the show went without a hitch! We got some lovely feedback. However, I know there is always room for improvements such as;

I would have had the lighting and sound cue sheets done sooner, in order to be able to complete the prompt script sooner,
Ensure that our next production had a detailed set as this is one of the elements that the audience commented on heavily.
Slicker openings, as I want to ensure that both the director and technical designer are happy with the end product.

Although for our first debut performance I don’t think we could have set the barrier higher!

Work cited;

Carter, J. (2016) Testing out letters [image].

Carter, J. (2016) Recording in the Studio [image].

Crow, P. (2016) Love First, Live Incidentally. Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/27005919041/in/album-72157668230653081/ [accessed 19 May 2016].

Goodreads (2016) Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda Quotes. Available from; https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/881082-dear-scott-dearest-zelda [accessed 12 March 2016].

National Theatre Discover (2016) Careers at the National Theatre: Stage Manager [vlog]. 21 January. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj6tvqQR5iw [accessed 22 March 2016].

WICKED The Musical (2013) WICKED Stage Management [vlog]. 12 April. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dU3RlYQIVM [accessed 23 March 2016].