Performances and workshop evaluation

Harris Academy Crystal Palace

Show 1

Our first show was at Harris Academy in Crystal palace, and it was definitely our most challenging show and set of workshops, for many reasons including group sizes, teachers control over their students, our own mistakes and it being our first show on the tour.

The first workshop seemed to work ok, all of the students were able to carry out the activity and although we all felt a little awkward roaming around checking what they had written and trying to help, all of the students seemed to undertake the task easily and effectively. However, as I was the leader of the workshop I felt like I should have explained what the gingerbread man actually stood for and why we were doing the activity as I felt that this explanation was lost in my nerves.  

Whilst the performance itself went fairly well apart from a few problems with actor entering the stage at the wrong moment and lines being missed, I felt that the performance in terms of the projection went too quickly and seemed rushed which ultimately left us with too much extra time in the final workshop.

However saying this, in my workshop I ran out of time for some of the tasks I had planned to do with the students, part of the reason this happened was because the class that I was given was extremely challenging and rowdy, the teacher that was assisting me in controlling the class was obviously not respected by his students as they openly mocked him as I was trying to lead the workshop. As Hannah had asked not to be left with a group on her own I made the decision for her to load the van with Simon and then join me in leading my group, as a stage manager I believe that this was the right decision to make as I believe that it is important to support team members and make sure that they feel comfortable in the situation. Throughout the workshop I tried to stay in control and eventually gained the respect of the majority of the students. Although the workshop was challenging it also allowed me to see the effect our performance had, had on some of the students watching within my workshop group as they were able to talk openly about their own experiences which lead to one boy hinting about being presently bullied himself.

Overall our first experience of touring the show went well and allowed us to reflect on what aspects worked, what needed to be worked on and rehearsed and how we felt about the show and its reaction.

La Retraite Balham

Show 1

Due to two cast member arriving late to the school, we had to improvise a 50 minute workshop swiftly, I quickly planned a workshop consisting of questions we could ask about personal identity and self-development, the creation of their own scenes based on a buzz word: identity, stereotype, school, media and relationships, a performance of their creations and an evaluation of what the scenes had taught them. Seeing as this was thrust upon us as we arrived I believe that the workshop went as best as it could have considering the circumstances, however I feel like the workshop was all left down to me which I do not mind however I felt a little unsupported by my team and a little annoyed when they criticised the workshop after the class had left.  

This first show/workshop was also difficult because we had two girls who could not speak a word of English, as Stage Manager I thought that it was important to not put my fellow group members under the pressure of having to work with these two girls so I put them into my own group for the devising task and ensured that they understood what I wanted them to do and that they were involved in the devising and performing of their groups piece.

Show 2

The following show went fairly well, it wasn’t the best as the cast and myself adjusted to the setting and “stage”, therefore it still was not a perfect run of the show partly because of the laptop needed for the projector choosing not to work outside of Brit meaning we had to think on our feet again and use the schools screens which although difficult to set up at first and a cause of confusion to the actors in the movement scene actually turned out to be an aid for the actors especially Imogen and Hannah in their Facebook conversation scene as they could use it as a prompt and also it meant that they could see when they were going to fast.

The first workshop went rather well and I ensured that the students were given an explanation of each task they undertook and the importance of the task, it also helped that I was given the large paper to make a large gingerbread man outline as it meant that the students could all see what I meant however I am not too sure that I should have let Mahmoud write what I needed to change about myself as it lead to a lot of comments about my appearance from the students. Another positive for this workshop was that it was with a group of 25 yr8’s rather than the 180 yr7’s we had, had to work with on this task at Harris Academy.

The second workshop however seemed to be a little boring for the students as it was totally  discussion based both as a whole group and then as five smaller groups, the girls seemed a little shy to answer some of the questions we asked them perhaps because they were scared encase they admitted too much personal information. Therefore in our group evaluation at the end of the day as a group we decided that it would be best to do more practical activity in the next workshop.

Show 3

This show was without a doubt our best show of the tour, we arrived determined to do a good show and workshops and indeed I believe we succeeded with this, both of the workshops seemed to go well, as leader of both I felt controlled and confident in my delivery, I was concise; exact and informative as well as being extremely positive and enthusiastic. The show itself seemed to go well from both the actors and my own perspective. We decided to use the schools screens again as they seemed to be placed in exactly the right place out of the way of the stage but in the audiences view.

Show 4 and 5

Both of these shows went exceedingly well also with only minor mistakes, the third show at La Retraite had given confidence and enthusiasm,  all of the students seemed to really enjoy both the workshops and the show and were all extremely positive in their feedback.

In our fifth show we were given two classes of yr8’s and unlike the large group experience we had at Harris Academy, it was actually really easy to work with a large group, due to their enthusiasm and energy they enthused us to work at our best for them.

Show 6

Our last show was to two yr7 groups one that had selected girls from across the year in who were all connected to the issue of bullying, friendship problems and body image, the other was the most troubling class of yr7. Due to know that this group was a yr7 class we kept the same first workshop and show which although seemed to go fairly well we had obviously lost our enthusiasm we had in the past three shows and certain elements of the show went slightly wrong with actors forgetting lines and props, however we slightly adapted the second workshop so that it did offer the forum theatre idea we had used in previous workshops however it also had more of a discussion ending were we were able to just talk as a group to the students about their ideas of body image, self-identity, relationships and bullying.

We ended the tour by taking some lovely photos with the students from La Retraite as well as a nice company photo as a way to promote our possible future events and shows!