The tech run went rather well but at the same time was all very stressful, as we only had one day to do a dress rehearsal and a tech run due to having the bank holiday Monday off. This whole process was a lot different from any tech run I had ever done because this time we were the visionaries and directors of the pieces. This entailed writing the scripts and then translating the written word into action on stage. To also aid the effect of the pieces, we were responsible for light, set, props, costume and sound.
I had a meeting with lighting technician so I could discuss with him all the lighting ideas I had and make notes of all the cues. We settled on use of a spotlight at different points, strobe lighting and different coloured washes to evoke a haunting atmosphere on stage. I specifically liked the idea of flipping between strobe and coloured washes to show the tension and inner conflict of the main character; washes representing the beauty of his art and strobe to reflect his destructive strive for ultimate perfection.
Sound was also crucial in defining the message of my piece to the audience. The piece started with a heartbeat, leading into ‘Big Sky’ and ‘Architects Dream’ by Kate Bush and ending with ‘Skinny Love’ by Birdy. Extracts of all of these songs had been previously comped together to create one long stream of music. This made it easier for the soundman, as all was required, was pressing play at the outset and allowing the track to run. These songs were selected on three criteria; their lyrics, rhythm and worldly production. ‘Big Sky’ has a tribal pattern throughout, creating a ‘world-music sound’. This was very important to me, as I did not want my piece to be set in any particular part of the world, or in any particular time. My main character and his message were both timeless and international. I also loved the lyrics; the idea of reaching for the ‘Big Sky’ mirrored my main character’s desire to reach his own ‘Big Sky’, which sadly seemed forever out of his grasp. ‘Architect’s Dream’ was about an artist’s journey, in this case a painter and ‘Skinny Love’ was about the breakdown of a relationship, which is how my piece concluded.
In the way ‘Architect’s Dream’ was about a painter’s process of creating his art, my subject onstage was creating his art through building and decorating a huge, entwining plat. I had constructed this at home out of three large sheets of white polyester, which I platted together and then embellished with different coloured and textured materials. My subject’s action onstage was to continually construct and destruct this plat, striving to make it as beautiful as humanly possible. This plat represented any artist’s work, or in fact any person’s desire to be the greatest they can be, both to their advantage and also to their downfall.
I made sure that I wrote out all the light, sound and projection cues clearly in the right order according to the script, I felt it was important to be organised in order to run the light box with confidence and professionalism.
Costumes were very important, and also needed to be timeless and non-fashion specific to any country or decade. I wanted the costumes to portray the different personalities of the character’s wearing them. These characters had strong individual traits and I chose to dress them with hints of different animals that mirrored their characteristics. One was dressed in feathers across her upper body to be an owl, representing the wise and the thoughtful, one in vibrant reds and yellows to represent the lion, strong, aggressive, the Alfa Male of the jungle, the third had feathers sprouting from her head and was in a dull grey body, to represent a bird, timid, afraid
and introverted. As well as these characters representing external figures in his life and the different types of personalities people have, they also represented his inner conscious and opposing personalities he had in his own head; his inner struggle.
The timeless and international message of my piece being mirrored by the choice of music was also reflected in the worldly tribal movements the girls were doing. This is the point where strobe lighting was used to enhance the tension in the girl’s dance. When choreographing the girls, I made sure to tell them that their facial expressions were just as important as their bodily movements. I wanted their faces to be wild, eyes to be wide open and expressions to represent their individual animals choice.
We also had a big job setting up the stage for each piece, which meant it was very important as a class to work as a team to help make sure that the whole show ran smoothly.
There were a few hic-ups with setting up the stage, luckily it was a dress rehearsal and from this experience allowed us to understand how important it was for everyone to make sure that they are helping back stage.
We finally finished our dress rehearsal and only had about 45 minutes to collect ourselves together before the live show began. We also made sure that all the props were positioned correctly side stage.
The live show was an amazingly enjoyable process and I felt very much in control of what I wanted to achieve during my time in the sound box. I felt my communication skills were strong and I was not afraid in being direct with the sound and lighting man. Overall I was pleased with the performance however on reflection of the live show, if given a second chance I would push the girls further with their movements and make sure they had a specific thought process throughout their dance, so every move was a direct result of an internal emotion. I would also do this again with the main character and his lover with their emotional love story so their emotions for each other were more real. I would achieve this by ‘Hot Seating’ the actors asking them different questions outside of the given circumstances of the piece, so they could build a true picture in their heads of what, why and who their characters really are, and what they mean to each other.
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