Evaluation of Show 3 - 04.02.16

I was expecting this performance to be similar to the first show we did, but in reality it turned out to be slightly different. The audience numbers were the lowest we had ever had, so this created a different dynamic from the offset. We still had an audience on three sides, even though there were only a few people on the sides. This meant we were not going to change our staging of the production which was entirely suited to having an audience on three sides.

Backstage there was a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but I had to remain focused so as not to get swept up with the excitement of the last performance of the Common Ground season. As everyone in the cast had become such good friends, it was a shame that it was coming to a close and we all gathered in the dressing room before the show and wanted to make it the best performance we had ever done. However, because it was the last performance there was a lot of pressure to make the performance good, and I think that due to everyone trying so hard to make it a good performance, it turned out to be our least good performance.

I seemed more in my head than fully absorbed in the performance, which is something I did not really know how to resolve. It was a shame that our last performance did not go as well as we wanted it to but the audience still really enjoyed it. It was a great experience to have a chance to run the shows three times, each to a different audience as I feel I was able to apply different acting styles and different elements from the rehearsal process to make the character come to life.

This is a picture of the opening sequence, which shows how good it looked on stage. Everyone appears to be completely submersed in the world of the play, and are in synchronicity with where they are looking. I think the artistic achievements of the play were very high, making it aesthetically pleasing as well as communicating the story of the play. 

Below are more pictures taken from the second dress run and in all of them it is interesting to note how well the show is suited to having a thrust staging configuration, and really shows how we managed to transfer the work we did in the rehearsal room into the final performances. 

It was a fantastic experience to be involved with Table for the Common Ground season, and although I did not enjoy all of the rehearsal process it was a good way to learn how to persevere and commit to a role so that the final piece worked as well as it did.

Overall, the professionalism of the cast was extremely high and as an ensemble we worked as hard as we could to make Table an enjoyable show  with a high level of consistency over the course of the three nights.