Wizard Of Oz Evaluation

 

 After all the preparation we had done for this production I felt very comfortable with the show and character. Once it came it just before the show all I did was look over the script one final time to make sure I knew all of my cues, as they could be quite spread out, so I liked to double check them every now and again. As the day went on, I was put in my makeup, which was fun. I had to sit in the makeup chair for an hour, this wasn’t actually that bad as I had other people in the room and everyone was excited, there was a great atmosphere in there.

As our group was preparing before the show we all gathered round and hyped each other up, so we were ready to smash it. The first show we performed in the morning was good to start off with, this was our first time running it all the way through without stops and it felt like a good warm up. Not to say that we didn’t give the performances our all. Our first audience was full of children and it was a massive deal for them to be able to see the play and to perform for its intended audience felt amazing. All of our cast wanted to make the performance special and we did. I felt as though my performance was good, actually.  I felt as though I consistently stayed in character, not letting go for a second. My body language remained stiff in some way or another, which could be painful now and again, but it was worth it. It all feeds into the production of this magical world in which Tinmen, Scarecrows and Lions can walk and talk and I feel that by keeping my movements just right, makes the world more real.

However, one thing I felt was a struggle was my accent, even though it had come along way since rehearsals I found it difficult to keep going throughout the production. I definitely think this is something I can work on, my American accent, for future productions. The show we performed later in the day is the one in which all of my family attended. It is always important to me that I show them what I can do and that I give my performance my all. As the show started and my time came to be on stage, I was standing there ready and focused. In fact I have to stand completely still on stage for five minutes before the story comes to my character. I actually don’t mind this as it gives me an opportunity to be in a good head space for the rest of the show. The night show went remarkably well, the team was working so well together and our chemistry felt great. We all knew exactly what we were doing, and it was going very smoothly. During the interval everyone was incredibly happy and talking about how well it was going and this boosted our confidence for the second half.

The second half of the show went well too, I had less lines and felt that I didn’t have as much stress. Yet we were still bouncing off each other’s reactions to what was happening on stage. A further large part of the production was the ability to imagine that everything is going on around you is part of a magical land. The issue being that ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ is so magical that you cant truly recreate it on stage and therefore need to be able to picture it inside your head. This can be challenging for an actor, to react amazed to something that isn’t there, in this sense it wasn’t unlike our production of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ last year and I think I have greatly improved since then.

Furthermore, this performance was another chance for me to highlight my skills as a devise actor. Being in something so unreal is a challenge and I think I did fairly well in the role. One of the biggest parts of this production for me was the movement. If you’re meant to be someone made out of tin that can barely move, while you also have a scarecrow next to you flopping about all over the place, if you just move normally and don’t create that juxtaposition, the audience sees that. In such a well-known production, the audience will be able to tell if something isn’t right and you could potentially just bring down the entire world and atmosphere for the audience.

In addition to this I thought that the character of the ‘Tinman’ needed to be show as a soft and warm hearted character. In the script and in general it is known that all he wants is a heart, he has been through a lot and I felt that this needed to be shown. I feel like this is clear to the audience in his treatment of his friends, how protective he can be. For me this is shown through my voice he has a soft tone and only sounds sharp and direct when he is protecting them.

Following on from each play I do enjoy hearing what people thought of my performance. It always means a lot to hear that I did well from Kelly and Kane, acting is a difficult profession to break into and to hear from others that they think I can do it means a great deal. I always want to put on my best performance, each show means so much to me and this year has started off so well. At the very start of the year I wasn’t feeling much like myself and my head was clouded by other things. I soon realised that this was a big year for me and that I couldn’t let anything get in my way of doing my best. I quickly put myself back into shape and tried my hardest in everything we have done so far this year. I will continue to go down this path in order to achieve my best.