Theatre Studies Teacher

The performance has come and gone and I’d like to begin by saying that I really enjoyed spending the week in the theatre with the class.  It was incredible how the team dynamic and the production as a whole grew and developed across this week of working so closely together.The efforts to prepare for bump-in were a little last minute- from me also.  We were incredibly lucky to have Craig in to help on Saturday morning.  Organising this and the willingness of some class members to stay behind on Saturday, ensured that the set was as ready as it could be, to bump in.

The audio and lighting was very last minute.  Althought there were some ideas for both, very little was concrete until we hit the venue.  This meant that some members of the production team had some late nights in preparation.  Audio should have been run a lot more in those final weeks of rehearsals.  I saw very little in the way of lighting ideas- brief descriptions of how scenes might look and there was only limited effort to spend time with me, working through the list of equipment which was available.  It was mere good fortune that we were able to create the lighting we did with the available lantern stocks.

Perhaps in hindsight, we should have looked more closely at matching stagecrafts which didn’t have such a high workload at the same time.

Although audience numbers were pleasing, I felt a little let down by publicity and promotion.  Things sometimes only happened after repeated requests and I am still waiting for the promotions timeline asked for at the first production meeting.

The direction work was excellent in my opinion.  Although Lisa had a clear idea of what she wanted, she was also realistic and worked with the tools she had and the time limitations under which we were working.  An extremely mature approach.

Costumes looked fantastic in the end but the fact that some of the purchases took place after we had bumped in was a little worrying.  Although the make-up looked great, I also feel more thought and design could have gone into hair.  The fact that the cast had issues with doing anything out of the norm is concerning and suggests that they didn’t always grasp the fact fully, that they are no longer themselves but instead are playing a role.  I felt that “The Guides” hair was the only one that was a little out of the ordinary and really added to the character.  The others were a much more conservative and a little too like the actors playing the roles.  A greater sense of non-naturalism might have helped to break people free of the need to feel comfortable with how they looked.  I think there could have been much more experimentation with this element of the production together with the make-up.

Above all, Farmhouse Productions had a very successful season.  Around 130 people saw a College production which was not your usual school show, in a new venue away from the school itself.  Ten students worked together, with varying degrees of comittment, to ensure the production was ready to go on stage and was of a very high standard.  And 130 people went away from a theatre experience with something to think about and discuss.

Now to monologues!