Evaluation

On the 16^th of April at the Charles cryer theatre, theatre strand did a performance of ‘Great Expectations’. For the past two terms we have been working on this play and progressing it for it to be ready for showing. In the first lesson we watched the channel 4 series of ‘great expectations’ so we really got to know the characters and what is was about after we got our scripts and where cast.

Someone in our cast who I though was really impressive and fully committed to the role was Daniel he was the perfect type cast but he didn’t let this deify his role he owned it and worked really hard. In one scene he had to fight with willa and even though he was being active on stage and being physical he also was very good at projecting his voice so that all sides of the theatre could her him. He is already well spoken but for this play he exhentuated his natural voice to create a strong character.

Another person who I though displayed a strong sense of characterisation was ivory she really took on her role and got lost in it. During the rehearsals she was always focused and when not on stage she was reading her lines. She took a bold move and chose not to base the character on the TV show that we saw and she put her own twist on it. For example the scene when ivory asks pip to sing and she uses a range of levels in her voice and adds extra stress to some words making her character more divers.

One of the strongest moments of the performance was the change over between the first and second half; the London scene. Everyone entered the stage using sound effects e.g the bell of the Big Ben and the house and carriages we created a sound scape of London to show the change of scene as before we were in the county and now we are in London.

We did this by using physical theatre and using our bodies to create the famous landmarks in the Victorian era like the Big ben but we had to make sure nothing was modern.

This was successful because it was more entertaining for the audience because it used both senses sight and sound which made the play over all more interesting. Also in this scene music was also incorporated to again make the play more entertaining.

Another part of the of the play that I found was so effective was the pre-set although it tequenicly was not part of the play it gave the audience a good understanding of the fact that the characters are shared and who the chorus were.

The weaknesses of the show I believed were in one of the scenes the change over between willer and Tyler and the idea of Tyler being pip, I think a lot more could have been done and I believe the chorus should of got involved to make the change over more effective.

Also something that could have been improved on was the song ‘Old clem’ because I think it should of only been the chorus singing it to highlight how put on the spot pip was.

Over all I believe the show was a success demonstrating the commitment and discipline of people in the strand I just feel there should have been more communication between both cast so that the shared characters would have more resemblance to one another or shared characteristics so the play would’ve been less hard to follow but everybody worked well as a team and we pulled of a ‘Great’ show to be proud of.

The props department worked well together and we shared ideas throughout the rehearsal period and on the facebook great expectations blog. we worked well as a department but we also spoke to cast members about their personal preferences and opinions on their probs because they props where quite low scale we asked some people (who could) to bring in there own costume. Before we could choose the different props for each character.

We went through the script and looked for any references to props that we needed. After reading about Mr.joe we immediately agreed that she should have tools and a carrot for ben to bite on to show the simplicity of mr.joe but also to show the eeriness of his character.

 Me and ben made a list of all characters and ideas of each specific prop that every character could use e.g. Jaggers – brief case. These pieces props would be a key part of telling the story of Great Expectations as they portrayed what each character represented as well as making the production visually exciting. 

.Me and ben researched what Victorian upper class and working class people and there style to see what they would use in those times. Key information from this research was that upper class women would have worn lots of makeup but this was the same as the lower class woman and this help us characterise the character of ms.humble (me) . Upper class men would have large hats and pocket watches and breif cases. This allowed us to then research specific props as we knew what we were looking for. 

We then decided that we would have to ask the cast if they had any appropriate props for there character this was the best opption meaning we would spend any money and the money could go to something else, and thankfully many people did. 

We were able to collect chairs (given by the theatre), skirts by the school .the brief case jaggers used was mine i used my own skirt and corset and romy brought in a aprun for ben. .We discussed with the director that cast members should use their specific piece prop and everything else should be black or white. I think I could have improved in this job role by having better communication director becuase we dicied what we wanted to use before talking to her then some of it had to be cut also and keeping the cast members updated more. If we knew we did not have a budget we could of spent less time researching and more time figuring out what prop people already had. I think our time management skills were god because everyone knew what they were using  in time for the show and no one felt displeased with their final props.

What is a production meeting?

A production meeting is a weekly gathering of the different departments involved in the production to discuss and share progress.In every production meeting each department would have the opportunity to update the rest of the cast on their progress as a specific department and explain the future tasks in which they are working towards. Other departments would be able to ask questions and record any information if necessary. This way all departments are aware of the progress that is being made towards the final production.

• Shackles/ Handcuffs 
• 
• A file

• 
• 8 chairs 

• 
• 1/2 coat/hat stands'

• 
• Few files/tools-for the blacksmith

• 
• Powder and Brush- Mrs Hubble 

• 
• Cane- Mrs Joe

• 
• Toothpick- Orlick 

• 
• Jaggers- Brief Case
• 

Production Meeting Minutes

Production Meeting Minutes

Production meeting minutes 
-FUND-RAISING
-Week 1 - cake sale looking to raise £50-£60 
Possible great expectations theme 
-week 2 - staff car wash (£5) per car 
Need to speak to site manager about facility use. 
-week 3 movie night (£2.50) 
Tuck shop, movie sleep over theme. 
Film yet to be decided.
- week 4 - open mic (£1 entry) year 10/11 in lecture theatre 
- week 5 - brit theatre jumper service
Jumpers for cast and optional for school members 
- week 6 - pound show 
Piece of physical theatre at lunch time performed by strand 
- week 7 - doughnuts sold during lunch 
Need a price from each department of how much they require.
MARKETING 
-Twitter and Instagram made
-programme,poster, Facebook 
PROPS
-By next week they will have done more background research on the play looking into context and what can be made/bought 
-Need to see props department about what they can supply.
-By Thursday have gone trough the first 30 pages of act 2 picking out where props are needed. 
MAKE-UP
-speak to make up department about what they can supply and work with (miss chew)
-test out make up looks on each other 
-look at previous casts make-up
SOUND/LIGHTING
-require a sound board 
-speak to director about what they want sound wise 
-look into smoke machines 
-need to look into the lights in the theatre and what they are and do. 
- speak to Mr French about lighting techniques 
COSTUME 
-look through script for costume requirements.
-week 2, looking into sourcing and what people can supply them selves.
-visit miss Chew Into making costumes.
-need to take fittings from actors using a fitting sheet.
MUSIC
-no budget needed because of instruments being played by cast members.
MOVEMENT
-want to experiment with lots of different dance styles.
-looking into Dance context of the time and where it can be used.
-historical and cultural dance backgrounds. 
-email miss Goodall about scene changes and how they can be made to include choreography.
-look into how productions have used movement to change scenes and how this can be used in GE
-want to speak to design team about how costume may restrict movement
STAGE MANAGEMENT TEAM
-by next week they will be arranging production sheets in which they will include extra rehearsal times
-checking up on groups to see their work is being carried out. 
-need to speak to props team about where the props will be placed for them to hand out.