Evaluation of Another Group

I think that all the performances were good. My personal favorite was Sam's Group. What I liked about their performance was that they put a lot of physical theatre into their performance. This made the performance interesting to watch and it kept me interested. Their group performed nearer the end, yet I felt that I was watching the performance for the first time. Everyone in the group was good; there wasn't one person who didn't put effort in or who let the group down. They kept concentration throughout meaning that the energy was never lost. They changed the levels of energy and emotion which meant there was a constant build of atmosphere. The most memorable part of their performance was their take on the stairs. Two people stood as doors and two people as stairs. When James came home he pushed the two 'doors' open and climbed the 'stairs' with the help of two more people. I thought this was physical theatre at its best. I gave them a D8.

End of Term Performance

For our end of term assessment we had to perform our version of act 2. I was in a group of 6, including myself. This is a outline of what we did for the performance:
So you'd start remembering your dad- we split up into two rows of three, one side girls, one side boys and we were sat opposite a partner, one person representing the dad and one representing the mum. As it was the first line we started with our heads down and then when the line was said we lifted them.
 He was a woman beater- the boy stood up and walked behind the girl. He pretended to lift her up by her hair. To do this the girl puts one hand over his hand on her hair and one hand on his wrist. This means they are in control and won't get hurt.
He beat up your mum every day- the boy pushes the girl to the ground. Again, to avoid any accidents, the girl throws herself so she is judging the force used.
From the day they got married- the man walks over to the girl on the ground and helps her up.
Right up to the day they got divorced- he throws her back down again.
He used to beat her to a pulp- each boy walks over to their girl partner. In canon from left to right the boy pretends to kick the girl.
So she stopped working- this time in synchronization the boys kick the girls again.
She wouldn't go out the house- all three girls back away from the boy and come back to back in a small circle.
Cos she was embarrassed- the girl lowers her head.
She didn't want to walk down the street- the boy lifts up the girls face.
With her face all black and blue- he slaps it down.
And you'd remember that your ma didnae want you to grow up to be like him- the girl looks up, with a significant change of expression, and turn to the other girls and hold hands.
She wanted you to be a famous lawyer- they rise onto their knees holding hands.
Or a famous doctor- stand up holding hands.
Or a famous whatever- look at each other hopefully.
And you'd remember that you were poor- girls fall back down.
But you weren't poor poor- girls look up and smile slightly.
Cos your mum still made sure there was a dinner on the table every night- turn to the boy and hands them a plate.
She'd give you her last penny- girls put a coin in the boys hand and holds it.
She didn't care about herself- boy holds mum hands too.
But you'd remember that you never really spoke to her- boy drops the girls hand and walks away from her.
Cos you'd come home from school and go straight up the stairs- boys turn to the right as if turning to walk up the stairs.
James?- girls call after their son and the boys stop moving.
Aye- boys look over their shoulder.
Your dinners out- call again.
You'd come down- boys retrace their route and stand in front of the girls.
Grab the plate- boys walk past their mother ignoring her and pretend to grab a plate.
Thanks, ma- boys briefly look at girls in thanks.
Back up the stairs- walk away retracing the same steps.
So you never really spoke to her- Boys freeze and girls reach out with their hands.

I was quite happy with the performance. On a whole it went to plan. We said all of the lines in order and we remembered all the particular actions that accompanied the lines. I feel that we put emotion into our performance which was important especially in a scene like this as it covered emotional topics such as abusive relationships and the relationship between a mother and a son. However I know that we could've done better. The performance could've been more polished. Unfortunately for the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was ill  and therefore couldn't practice with my group. I feel that with more practice we could've perfected the movement and transitions and made the performance better. I also feel that we needed to make the whole performance flow better and good transitions are key to this. The mark M5 I feel was fair. It wasn't good enough for a distinction but I thought we did try to put on a good performance. We were half way to a good performance so overall the mark reflected my performance; however next time I would like to achieve a higher grade.