Ghost light tours UNIT 1

 21/10/24 - Globe evaluation

This week was our performance week! We started off on Monday in the Globe, taking tours round the venue to get more comfortable in the space we were going to be working in. We ran through lines to make sure we knew them 100%, also making it easier for us to perform and not have to think about what we needed to say next. We also had a chance to practise in the space which was helpful to let us adjust to the changes from rehearsing in the studios at college. Being in the theatre definitely helped to make me even more focused, and give me the excitement I needed to keep developing and improving my character.

For my Nancy costume, I wore a long, Victorian red dress, with Victorian boots. My hair was curled and messy in a half up half down bun, and my makeup was done as it would be for a prostitute in Victorian times with eyeshadow and lipstick, but with a bruise on my forehead & neck and muck on my face. I enjoyed getting my makeup done, the makeup artists were all brilliant. Being in costume definitely helped to make me feel more like my character. The props used were fake blood, to splatter on Bill and a bat for Bill to carry to use as a weapon, making him appear very threatening. 

The Oliver section took place in the upper circle, I hid on the seats above the audience, and Bill Sikes hid down below, screaming at the audience whilst I hid amongst them before I revealed myself. To add to the setting to make it like Victorian London we had a few people walk around in Victorian costumes, which I pleaded for help to. There were also sound effects coming from the stage below, which added to the creepy atmosphere.

It felt great to perform in front of the audience, I ran through them and hit behind them at the start. Bill also came close to the audience when speaking to them, this made it more immersive, and encouraged them to connect with our characters. I felt adrenaline as I was performing which I used in my character to improve the scene and make it more intense, also using my nerves as part of her character. 

The lighting used was red, to reflect the idea of evil, and remind you of blood, and was shone on us directly to make sure the audience could see our faces as we were quite far away. I felt that the second and last show were the best, as Bill Sikes were double casted so they were more comfortable after doing it once already. I think my last show was the best, as I managed to capture the fear of Nancy, including pleading for help and giving a realistic but impactful performance. 

Bill carried my body off at the end of the scene, and brought it to Sweeny Todd’s pie shop in the downstairs bar. Although I found it easy to be a dead body, I found it difficult to hide my breathing as my dress was tied very tightly! All the characters returned during the finale at Carrie's prom where we danced together, scarily, almost animatronic. We turned towards the audience in the middle, and moved closer, staring at them and reaching out to intimidate them. To make my character scary at the end, I decided to play it creepily, doll-like even, silently staring into people's eyes with a concerned look on my face. 

I enjoyed playing Nancy as she was a really emotional character, with the motive to make the audience fearful of Bill Sykes, and feel empathetic for Nancy. I met this motive by using my voice, facial expression and body language to convey emotion. I think I effectively conveyed the characters' emotions, but, on the first show our lines weren’t spot on, which meant we had to think about what to say, taking away from the portrayal of our characters. To correct this, we went over lines before the next show to make sure we were more confident with them. 

My vocal performance was overall good, as my clear articulation ensured the audience could understand what I was saying and therefore understand the story of our scene. With my volume I varied it from loud and quiet depending on what the line was. For example, I would shout ‘Bill please, I’ll do anything’ when I was desperate, but speak quietly when trying to convince Bill everything would be okay; ‘We can leave this life behind. We can start afresh, I promise’.  Perhaps on the quiet bits I could have done more of a ‘stage quiet’ so that the audience could hear everything properly. I had to increase my volume when we got in the theatre, because the audience were stood at the top of the stairs, we were at the bottom so had to project to allow them to hear us. 

For my physicality, I stood tall with my shoulders straight when I was trying to seem unafraid, and calm to convince Bill he didn’t need to hurt me. But when I realised I had no hope, I became more hunched, falling to the floor and crawling away. We also used some stage combat to emphasise the power of Bill Sykes, and make him even scarier to the audience; we did a fake hair pull, where I grabbed Bill’s hand on the top of my head and moved about as if he was pulling me. We also used the bat to put me in a headlock, but I pushed the bat up whilst Bill pushed it down, giving me the control to bring it close to my neck and make sure I'm safe. We spaced the scene to give it movement, by using the stairs to go up and down, and hiding my body behind a wall, with my legs sticking out as I was beaten by Bill. Bill hit a pile of coats to give the illusion he was hitting me, and I splatted some blood on his face before he returned to the audience. However, on the second day Bill and I weren’t close enough to do the blood splat, this could be an area to be improved. 

I enjoyed working with another person, both Alfie and George were brilliant as Bill Sykes, it also meant the scene was engaging as it was a conversation instead of a monologue. As it was a two person scene, it was important for us to work together well, and listen and respond to each other in order to make the scene flow well.

At some points during my performance I felt as though I wasn’t really my character, I was thinking too much about my surroundings, the audience and what I was doing. In the future, I will work on this to truly enhance my character and therefore make my performance more believable. 

However for the next ghost light tours I would like to go for a role which is the opposite, a stronger female character, perhaps a villain to explore a wider character range and push myself.