WEEK 13 (Silence in the wings)

This week for working on Silence in the wings, the first task was a prop task, we had to gather materials on line to plan how we would make the props for the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. When I was first assigned this task I felt fine and I enjoyed searching and thinking of different ways I could make the props.

However, I began to struggle because my ideas kept on changing and I felt like I could hugely improve on the idea I had come up with.

However, hearing my feedback I soon felt better and realised no plan is ever perfect the first time.

On Thursday morning we joined Christine for our second session on building our confidence for when we perform Silence in the Wings. I was looking forward to this weeks session because last week it was really enjoyable. We started off by discussing how everyones weekend was, which was nice because it got everyone talking. We then played virtual guess who which had everyone laughing and I found it fun and really enjoyable. Towards the end of the session Christine introduced and gave us a line of a poem each to deliver, I don't usually like reading out loud with expression but I felt comfortable enough to in front of my classmates. I am looking forward to what next session brings.

In Thursdays second session I joined a call with Emma and Amy to discuss the layout and order of the show. We spoke about who was doing each role and we made a start of structuring Silence in the wings. When I was assigned to help run the show I was a bit anxious about what to do and where to start but with help from the year two's Amy and Emma, I soon felt better about it.

During Thursdays last session I planned my set design for Silence in the Wings, I drew it on paper first then I used word to make it clearer. I wanted my set design to be simple because the main focus of the piece is on the production team.

WEEK 12 (Silence in the Wings)

This week I began to research more on my role for silence in the wings which is the DSM. I joined a call with my classmates Emma and Liz who are both year 2's and have experience with being a stage manager. They were both really helpful and I gained a lot of information and advice from them which I took notes and wrote down everything I needed to know. It was nice to discuss with them about the stage manager role because they were once in my position too.

This made me feel more confident on my knowledge of a stage manager and I don't feel anxious or worried about taking on the role.

I was assigned to watch a useful video on immersive theatre and I learned a lot from the video and also took notes on what is immersive theatre, what is its aim and how is it done.

In Thursdays session, year 1 was assigned to join a call with Christine who we will be joining every Thursday for weekly sessions to build our confidence for performance. Before joining the call I didn't know what to expect but I soon felt comfortable and the session was really good fun. We all introduced what we wanted from the sessions in which I said I want to get to know my group better and get talking to everyone a bit more. This made me feel a lot more confident to speak openly with my group and I'm looking forward to next weeks session.

During the second session as a group we made a mind map discussing all of the roles and what they're role would be doing in the performance. Emma and Amy sent me over some questions to answer as the DSM for the perfomance, I noted the answers down as a script. I feel confident about being a DSM for the performance because I understand the role. I hope to continue to gain more confidence each week leading up to filming week.

WEEK 11 ( Christmas Show Week )

Monday 14th December

Today I arrived to college at 9:00 for an early start to work on the show, which I am stage manager for. We did a run through of the cues Aladdin which took us up until 1. I was unsure on how to cue each lighting/ sound but with help from a class mate I managed to note down every cue.

Tuesday 15th December

This morning we ran through level 1 tech then a practise run through afterwards. As level 1 didn't have a script it was very difficult to cue anything but I tried my best and I had help from a class mate. After, we ran through Aladdin which went really well. I stood by the lighting desk giving cues to backstage, lighting and sound. As it was my first time as a stage manager I got the hang of it pretty quickly and felt less panicked when the performance was happening.

During the shows I was told to sit at my desk and only communicate with backstage and give them set cues through the radios. I felt really relieved because I had less cues to focus on and it meant that I could pay attention on communicating with backstage. Overall it the shows went smoothly however I wish I was prepared more in future.

I carried out my target well this week, which was to try my best at the DSM role, it was nice to experience the role and i hope to be given the role in the future so now i know what to do.

Target: My target for after the christmas break is to carry on completing all tasks to the best of my ability.