Overall Evaluation The Secrets Out

8/10/2019 Overall Evaluation The Secrets Out

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ve thoroughly enjoyed the Schools Tour process and was so proud of our nal pi

here did we start?

n we started the process I wasnt really sure what to e pect# I was really e cite

as e cited by what we could achieve as a company and our rst o%cial piece of

shops at the beginning of the process were great fun and reminded us of what

joyed it when we had the chance to devise our won wor! and it felt li!e then we

The Secrets Out Schools Tour Overall /valuation

-ccepting our di0erences and embracingour similarities.


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Key moments of the process

- !ey moment of the process for me was when we had to go away andcreate our own character monologues based on a character from a2isney or fairytale character. This was when I discovered 3ane 4oppinshaving no idea I would go on to play her# $e had to choose a characterand then the monologue had to be as the child of that character. Ichose "ary 4oppins and had so much fun writing my own monologue.

The idea behind it was that she was trying to be li!e her mother buteverything she did went wrong and she was very clumsy# 5eing cast as

3ane didnt actually feel li!e the same 3ane that I brought to the ,oorinitially* just because she evolved and I found the more sophisticated*nerdy and !nowing side she had too. I am so grateful I had theopportunity to pay 3ane in the piece* I feel li!e I went on such a journeyand was able to bring my own ideas to it that inspired me in the rstplace.

6etting the script was a real !ey moment. It was when I started toreally see the story come together and how all the characters go onthat journey. The story stuc! me as so sweet* endearing* e citing*magical and adventurous.

The casting was a !ey moment in the process for me. Once we werecast things started to slot into place and it was ama7ing how there wasnatural chemistry and strong character relationships started to form. Itwas so e citing to get the script up on its feet and start hearing howthe piece would wor! dynamically. I was so thrilled to be cast as 3ane. Iloved how ,ustered she was but at the same time you !new deep downshe would have a plan# 8In the piece she came up with a plan* butdidnt even realise until it was pointed out to her#9

In addition* a !ey part of the process for me was when we did our rst

character wor!shop when cast. Throughout my training at the "is!inwe have done many character wor!shops focusing on physicality andleaning more about the character* but this way the rst wor!shop Ihave been in where I discovered a huge amount of material and feltmyself give in to the character* not even thin!ing about it* just letting ithappen. It was eye opening how much detail I discovered andeverything felt so much more natural and li!e I really was in 3anesshoes. $hen we were com arin our characters h sicalit to animals


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Overall, was the process a success?

Overall* the process was a huge success. In the time we had I was proud

of how far we too! our individual characters. I felt li!e we all went on a journey and was able to step up to the demand.

I also believe that the story was a really successful part of what we did. The script was so endearing* funny* playful and magic. I loved how muchroom the script gave us to play. It was li!e nothing was written in stone*there was great scope for you as an actor to ma!e it your own and havefun. I believe this was something that really contributed to the success ofthe piece. 5y the end I thin! we all felt we had ownership of the piece

and all of our characters played a massive part in ma!ing it wor!.Something else was the fact that the show couldnt have wor!ed withoutany of our characters; this made it a success. It meant that everyonereally had something at sta!e* every character had a huge journey to goon and every character had to be engaged and wor! inside the widergroup of characters and the story. I believe this was great for ourcompany too as we pulled together to tell the story and everyone waslin!ed and connected in some way.

One of the most successful and rewarding parts of the process for mewas performing at The 5racton 'entre. To be honest I was really nervousabout this performance. I just had no idea what to e pect or the responsewe would receive. There was also an obstacle because in the sports hallwhere we were performing there was a < second echo after spea!ing.

This was e tremely challenging because if you spo!e too fast then peoplewould have had no idea what you were tal!ing about. 4ersonally* I foundit especially challenging because of the manic and ,ustered nature of mycharacter. She has tendency to go o0 on one and spea! &uic!ly building

herself up into a panic. Therefore* I tried to slow down the speech andshow the ,ustered nature more in my physicality and facial e pression aswell as tone of voice. -t times the piece felt under energised because ofthis but I thin! we all pulled together and the piece started to pic! uptowards the end and we rela ed into it more. $hen they were all smilingand having fun at the end it was such a great feeling and something Iwould love to do again.


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Overall /valuationThe Secrets Out Schools Tour

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-t the start of the process the company didnt feel strong. $hen youentered the space there was often a very labored atmosphere* whichmade it almost impossible to start anything productive. I personally

really struggled !nowing how to respond to this. I didnt feel I could pic!people up on it because you dont feel you have status in the room todo so. >owever* loo!ing bac! perhaps we should have pic!ed eachother up on it and been able to be professional about it. The troublewas that there was no divide between outside the space and then thespace. It meant that personal issues were brought in and then itbecomes di%cult to tal! to someone without them feeling li!e it is apersonal attac!. If we had a clear divide people would be less li!ely toenter with a negative attitude and we would be able to tal! to each

other as actors.

There were moments in this process when it felt li!e the company wasfalling apart. There seemed to be so many arguments happening and itwas li!e no one could be civil anymore. I found this really distressingbecause ultimately we are all there because we have a shared passionand want to ma!e Theatre. 'arleigh really helped us as a company toovercome this. Something she said at one point that still stands out tome is about appreciating what we are doing because one day we might

not see each other again or we may not have the opportunity toperform. $e need to cherish the time we have. I couldnt agree more*we are so luc!y with the facilities* level of training and support wereceive and I would hate to loo! bac! and thin! we were tooargumentative and negative as a company. -fter this though* I did feela noticeable change in the company dynamic. /veryone seemed to putall this behind them and focus on our goal. I believe that the nal piecereally brought our company together. $e wor!ed together* supportedone anther and put out a show we were all proud of. $e also have lots

of shared memories and fun moments to loo! bac! and laugh aboutwhich always ma!es a company stronger and more fun#

-n element of our performance and nal product that I would sayneeded improving was the wor!shop we did at 6ravel >ill. I dont thin!the plan was e0ective enough and the way we went about transitionsinside the wor!shop didnt feel li!e they were energised enough.

What was unsuccessful?


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@earning how to adapt to new environments and ta!ing everything inyour stride was a big learning curve for me. I completelyunderestimated how much technicians do and the amount ofpreparation that everything needs# On this show we had to really beindependent and use our initiative. It was all about just getting stuc! inand wor!ing as a company to get a space ready* have props on hand

and ma!e sure the overall technicalities were in place. $e had Olly*which was great* but the show needed us to all play a part. I actuallyfeel that this helped us to have more ownership of the piece as itmeant we were not just actors we were doing all sorts of things thatmade the nal piece possible. 4erforming to children was somethingcompletely new to me. -t rst I felt very daunted and did not have aclue what to e pect. >owever* once we had done it at 6ravel >ill* I wasable to cloc! what I did wrong and nd ways to connect more with thechildren at 6ateway. This paid o0 because our audience interaction was

much better in this show. I thin! we all let go and realised that we canbrea! the forth wall with con dence.

I also learnt a lot more about what a tour demands of you as an actor. Itre&uires you to adapt in your performance too. )ou have to cloc! thefeel of the room* how big it is* how big your audience is and where youshould address your lines. )ou have to ma!e big decisions in secondsand then trust your initiative. The tour demonstrated the physical and

What did you

The children shouldnt have even cloc!ed that we were changing thegame because everything should have been a game. Aor e ample*when 5ec!y led the wor!shop with us* even just running to the wall orgathering round to listen to her was a game and I thin! we should haveadapted more of these principals. I dont thin! we should have started

with the name game where children had to say their name and anaction on their own. I thin! it would have been better if we started withmore ensemble and team building e ercises to ma!e them feelcomfortable.

The planning e%ciency was not great and we should have thought inmore depth about the games we were putting forward. It would havebeen better to do less games but with better intension and cleareroutcome. These mista!es though will inevitably ma!e it better if wewere to do wor!shops again and have taught us all what wor!s and

Individual strengths andweaknesses


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owever* there is nothing you cando to go bac! and change it* youhave to be positive and loo! aheadto what your going to do to rectifyit. -s I mentioned in my strengths* Iwas so e cited about the character*the piece and all the moments thatthis helped me to rectify things.>owever* I !now for the futuresomething I want to improve uponis not letting a bad day throw meo0 balance. I need to have moretrust in myself and the companythat we will get there in the end#

-nother wea!nesses is when wewere e ploring di0erent charactersI would have li!ed to ta!e moreris!s with my voice. I want to try

and develop a broader vocal rangeso that I can be more versatile. Ifeel my voice is &uite speci c tothe characters I play and I wouldli!e to wor! on nding a new voicein characters and opening up myrange. This is connected also to

I believe a strength of mine onthis process was playfulness. Ifeel I have developed the abilityto play more inside a characterand scene. 2oing wor!shops andtrying lots of di0erent ideas withscenes really aids this. It meant Ivery rarely felt stuc! or unsure of what to just try ne t. I also thin!a part of this was that during therehearsal process I was lessafraid to ma!e mista!es and thisthen enabled me to ta!e moreris!s and be adventurous in whatI was going to attempt. Imanaged to abandon a lot ofworry and just have fun* whichreally paid o0. -s an actor* Ie cited and couldnt wait for thene t scene. I was always on mytoes wanting to ma!e the ne tthing better. This is not of coursealways possible and I did haveperformances when I !new itdidnt go as well as it could*however* the energy I had as theactor really spurred me on.

I also feel I have developedinitiative as an actor andimproved my ability to beindependent. I am starting tounderstand how to ma!e acharacter my own and not feelrestricted by what the scriptgives you. This process taughtme how to be a fun and

Something else I would li!e to focus on is using my intercostal musclesto support my breath. I found a real connection when 'laire helped meto place my voice but in the rush of a show this was sometimesforgotten. To improve* I want to wor! on sustaining this and learn howto be more consistent to produce a stronger and more powerful sound.

-nother element of voice was sustaining breath because singing anddancing at the same time got tiring and we struggled at times to getthe sound out. $e learnt more about the breathing techni&ue to copewith this and I felt it improve in the last shows when we adopted this*however* I would li!e to wor! on this for future processes.

Company strengths and weaknesses

- company strength on this process was also the playfulness that wasbrought to the ,oor. I feel we really started to develop a sense of fun asa company and this was re,ected in the characters and script that wasproduced. -s a company* I thin! we are more comically inclined so itwas good we were able to bring this out and wor! with another todevelop scenes that wor!ed.

-lso* during the run of shows and the actual tour we pulled together.$e wor!ed with one another to set up and ensure we were well

prepared. $e helped each other out bac! stage and there was a senseof ensemble* if something went wrong* everyone was there. I believethis indicates the huge journey we went on from the start of theprocess.

$ea!nesses included the lac! of unity at times. This was moreprominent at the start of the process and de nitely improved* 8as Ihave stated as a strength above9 but I feel itBs something that reallyheld us bac! some days. The space wasnt being treated a professionalwor!ing space and personal issues were brought into the roomunnecessarily. This had an automatic a0ect on warm ups and meantthat we were not always prepared and energised vocally and physicallyfor the day. This is a huge problem because if youre not a preparedactor then this is automatically going to have an a0ect on the wor! youdo and the boundaries you can push.

There also wasnBt a full wee! until late in in the process when the whole

I thin! we completed the tas!s we were set successfully and each tas!*wor!shop and e ercise we did contributed in their own way to the nalproduct and the material we focused in on.

2uring the rehearsal process* we loo!ed a lot at Outreach drama andone of the tas!s was to create a game show on two outreachcompanies. Our game show was called 6ive me a hand brother. Ifound this a fun thing to do and a really di0erent and creative way ofresearching. I believe we ful lled this brief successfully because wetoo! on all the information* learnt a lot about the outreach companiesand how we could apply it to what we were about to do. I also thin! itwas successful because we made it into a piece* putting our own spinon it and creating fun dittys and concepts which made the pieceentertaining and full of life.

-nother tas! we were set in the rehearsal process to do independentlywas to create our own character monologue as the child of a 2isney orfairytale character. I found this so much fun and where I rst met 3ane4oppins# It was great to write and I enjoyed sharing and seeing whatother actors had come up with# >owever* not all the company was onthe ,oor and these characters helped to form the script and thecharacters that would be appearing. It also gave 'arleigh inspiration forcharacters that could be adapted to form another character. Its strangeto thin! that if we did see everyones monologues the script could havebeen very di0erent* there would have been a greater variety of ideas inthe pot. I dont thin! this made the nal piece any less successful* but Ido thin! that it meant we were not as in at as a company as we shouldhave been at that point.

How successfully did you complete tasks that were

@oo!ing ahead as a company* we need to wor! together more andensure we support one another always. There shouldnBt be a divide ordecisions being made without the whole company. $e need to trust oneanother so much more and that we can create good wor! when we allput our mind to it.


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If you had more time, what would you change andwhy?

If we had more time something I would have li!ed to focus on is ma!ingthe choreography more crisp and polished so that the dances camereally naturally to us all and there was an even stronger sense ofensemble. I do thin! the dances and choreographed moments werehighlights of the show and moments where the audience really startedto get on side which is why I feel it would have been bene cial if wehad more time to drill them. I believe the same applies to the singingbecause sometimes harmonies were not right and I thin! the wordscould have been more punchy and clear. >owever* despite these

technical things that would have needed more time we de nitely hadfun with what we were doing and played inside it as our characters*which is a !ey factor that made them successful overall.

I would also have li!ed us to ful ll our roles with more attention to detailand concentration; for e ample* I was assigned along with >arriet and-mber as Tour manger. -lthough we all had a hand in the di0erent jobsand wor!ed together as a team* more time would have allowed us toplan in advance and have scope to thin! more about the other

elements. This is not to say however we didnt get a sense because weall had to club together and this taught us all how much wor! anddi0erent things there are to thin! about when putting out a tour.

I also thin! it would have been good if we did more promotional wor!and our run was e tended at the "is!in. It was a shame that not all the"is!in company were able to see the piece* therefore* more time wouldhave allowed us to e tend the run and really get a wide audience in tosee the piece.


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esponse to the feed!ack we received"$e devised an online &uestionnaire and sent it to the primary schoolsand the 5racton 'entre. $e wanted to nd out how successfully the

piece was received and some more speci c details on what theyenjoyed.

The response we had from The 5racton 'entre was e tremely positiveand it was lovely to get such encouraging feedbac!. Its great to thin!that as a company we now have a strong connection with that 'entreand that they would be interested in us coming again. In addition* theservice users there enjoyed it a lot and this made it even morerewarding for me* it drives me to want to do more wor! li!e this ande plore other areas of the community that are in need or would reallybene t from this type of outreach they may usually be deprived of.

It was wonderful to see so many of our services users attend the performance and get so much out of having the opportunity to watch atheatre performance.

$e also got a response from 6ravel >ill 4rimary School. This was alsoreally complimentary and I thin! it gave us all a boost hearing whatthey thought was successful. 'onsidering this was our rst performancewe did of the show too it was great that they enjoyed it so much andthere was a positive vibe from the children.

We would love to have a visit from you again - it is a very motivatingand inspiring experience for our pupils.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how they rated the wor!shop. Ofcourse there are things we !now could have been improved but itsencouraging to thin! that we made a di0erence and it was our rstattempt. It gives me con dence for what could be achieved in the

future.The workshops were excellent and provided great insight to our

pupils.

$e did a E and - at 6ateway 4rimary School. This was an e cellentform of feedbac! because it meant we were able to have that directcontact with the audience and hear the response straight after theshow when it was fresh in their minds. It was also really good that we


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$hen they were as!ed if they would li!e to do acting in the future therewas an array of hands* which was such a brilliant outcome#

Aeedbac! is paramount to the success of a show and based on thefeedbac! we received I believe our show was a great success. It showsthat it was a fun piece and audiences were ta!en on a journey. I feelreally proud that we inspired and provo!ed thought with the story andenergy we brought. It ama7ing to thin! what you can do when acompany really wor!s together and I hope we can continue to createwor! we love and ma!e a di0erence.

Credited# $oogle Images


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What have you learnt as an actor that will in%uenceyour ne&t process?

-s an actor* I have learnt a vast amount on this process and I reallybelieve it has been a turning point for me. I will ta!e away everything Ihave learnt and apply it to future processes. I do particularly enjoy'hristmas show style performances* so I thin! going into lm is going tobe especially challenging; learning how to strip everything bac! will be anew s!ill. >owever* I !now that the con dence I have gained and thetrust in the material we create is there and will guide me.

Something that will have an in,uence on future processes also is thisidea of play. -lthough not all shows re&uire you to be as full on* I believethat an actor has to be playful* even in the most serious scenes you haveto be able to adapt* nd new things and play* not in a literal sense but beable to play with new ideas and not get stuc!. This process has enabledme to re ne this s!ill and its one I hope to continue developing.

I have also learnt so much more about character development and howto sustain physicality. This will a0ect me in future processes because Ihave become more self aware and open to analysing all the small detailsthat give a character the traits they have and how to focus on ma!ing

sure everything is the character.I have found the whole e perience e tremely rewarding. Ta!ing Theatreout into the community has allowed me to understand how you can ma!etheatre out of anything and to be an actor means so much more than rstmeets the eye. I loved the fact we were able to connect with audiences ina di0erent way and also personally feel rewarded that you have madethem smile and given them a good show.

-s a company I !now we are in a really strong position; we all !now we

can create wor! thats e0ective and entertaining. I am really e citedabout the ventures ahead. This year seems to be going so &uic!ly alreadyso I really want to ma!e the most of every minute and embrace everytas! as a challenge and something that I will strive to help me improve asan actor in the future.'Credited# $oogle Images(

Overall Evaluation The Secrets Out

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