In choir, we were slightly un balanced in the harmonies, due to some of the cast for lilies coming in at a later time than usual, due to the fact we had our first performance tonight. However, I still decided to come in at normal time, so that I could get a vocal warm up in choir. That way I felt ready for the songs we sing in lilies and knew that my voice would be prepared for the songs. As Emily and Hannah are two of the strongest Alto singers, I took charge in ‘Joyful Joyful’ and had to belt a lot. It was difficult but we still progressed in the song learning and now know the whole song. I plan to teach Emily and Hannah the part they missed at a later date. That way, we will all be confident and can hold our part when or if we perform it.
Jess, Justin, Will, Liam and I also met up to rehearse ‘Holloway Jones’, which we are doing for Gary’s scripted lesson. We made a list of props that Justin was going to source and bring in and also a few costume items that Jess and I would need to find, to help emphasise our characters. In the rehearsal we started with a line run, which is something that I have learnt is really nice to start of a rehearsal, as it gets you to focus back on the piece and what you are saying, so that you can then focus on characterisation. Will was in charge of character work in the directing of our piece, so we worked on physicality and voice for a while. We decided that they are from London, and needed a ‘London chav’ accent. We wanted to get across to the audience that the mother character, that Jess is playing, is rough as she is in prison, and that their should be an uncomfortable feeling coming from ‘Holloway’. The character relationship is possibly one of the most vital elements to this piece, as the staging is very simplistic, as it is set in prison visiting hours and therefore it means that people are going to focus much more on what it is we are saying. We want to keep it very natural and as real and believable as possible. This is due to the fact we want the audience to empathise and connect to the characters. It’s a touching piece and it deserves acting which gets across the complex pragmatics and levels of emotion that both of the characters are feeling. I think the research we have done into the characters has definitely helped us to achieve this and I am happy with how we are progressing with the piece.
In the evening, we had our first performance of ‘Lilies on the land’. It went really well and the audience gave a fantastic response. There was a lot of laughing audience members and we had a lot of laughs on lines that we didn’t initially expect. This was brilliant, but one thing we can definitely work on is waiting for the laughter to be over before carrying on with the lines. But over all, I am proud and happy of the work we produced and I am looking forward to the final two performances, which are later this week.
Thalia Weavers - Acting 