Final Performance Evaluation

The Cherry Orchard performance was extremely successful and I think that everyone pushed themselves to the best of their ability. As a form, we decided to take a more modern approach to the play which I was original and creative. In my opinion, it was the best run through that we as a form has ever done! One aspect I think we all developed was our transitions and pace of each scene. We focused on this just before our performance and I think that really helped us to keep a flowing solid performance.

I feel that one of the main strengths of my performance was the fact I knew all my lines, as this enabled me to become a lot more confident and in depth with my character as I feel that I was able to fully get into my role to portray her to the audience. I feel like knowing my lines confidently helped me to fully understand my character and what she was feeling at the time. I was also able to confidently add in pauses where I felt they were appropriate.

I also found that the warm ups Sarah did with us before our performance really helped me to develop my voice and helped me to pronounce my words exactly how they should be said in order to be understood. I find that when I'm nervous I become quieter so this helped me with my projection so that my lines could be fully heard across the room. I managed to get some feed back from my friends in a rehearsal, who told me that I needed to work on my voice. I feel like this constructive criticism really helped me to do the best I could in our final performance. 

I have learnt a lot about Naturalism over the course of this term which I have really enjoyed. However I find that if your not in full understanding of Naturalism then it can be quite difficult to understand. Stanislavsky's system really helped me in my understanding of Naturalism. It helped me to find my super objective in my character. At first before learning about the system I found Naturalism quite difficult to understand and portray, however once I understood it I felt it was much easier to explore with. In the future I would like to explore naturalism further and develop my skills furthur.

When exploring Anya, I tried to understand how she is feeling in my scene and what her character was like so that I was able to portray her naturally. This helped me develop a further understanding of her and how I would present her in my final performance. Throughout my performance, I kept in mind Anya's objective and why she was there. This definitely helped me to progress my character further and make myself understand why I was there. This also helped me to have more confidence in my stage presence as I understood where I was and exactly why I was there. I wanted to portray her worry and love towards her family, by analysing my hand gestures and facial expressions.

In my opinion, I feel that everyone did really well in their performance and got into the mindset of their character. I felt that one of the strongest performances was Bret's portrayal of Lopakhin. I really admired how he managed to portray the bitter and stubborn personality including projection of his voice. His performance stood out for me because he was one person that really engaged me to watch the scene he featured in. In his scene he is trying to persuade Ravenskaya to sell the orchard and I feel that he managed to portray how Lopakhin has a selfish and greedy personality through his facial expressions and hand gestures, as well as his variety of tones in his voice, as he would become high pitched when he started to get agitated. I analysed his hand gestures and facial expressions throughout his scene and I feel that he really got into his character as much as he could. I find people who really engage with their character really admiring!

Overall, I feel that my performance as Anya managed to be successful after all of the hard work and rehearsals that we have had over the term! and I am extremely happy in myself with how I did and with our final performance. I feel that I managed to stay truthful to my character throughout the scene. Over this term, I have already learnt so many skills such as Stanislavsky's system and all how truthful performances. I feel that my form did well in performing The Cherry Orchard and can not wait until our next performance!

Anya - Costume

Me and Tia came together during rehearsal time to discuss what we thought would be appropriate for Anya to wear. We took into consideration her age and the time period in Russia. We decided it would be appropriate for Anya to be casual.


COSTUME

Top - Black
Jeans - Black
Casual trainers
Flowery scarf
Hair back

I feel that the scarf really added to my performance it shows the femininity and innocence of Anya. However, the fact that shes in dark clothing could suggest that she is feeling a variety of emotions.

Anya - Character Profile work

I have managed to officially embody my character due to having rehearsed so much for The Cherry Orchard. I think in my scene, Anya is excited for the arrival of coming home, however worried about the welfare of her mother as she speaks to Varya about this.
Blocking out our scenes

•  Ravenskaya, Anya, Varya and Gayev enter the home to arrive to Dunyasha waiting for them
• Stands by the window with Varya to admire the views of home
• All leave execpt Anya who is greeted by an excited Dunyasha
• Sits down with Dunyasha to gossip and discuss events whilst Dunyasha does her hair
• Enters Varya who takes over Anya's hair 
• Discusses their mother and the situation in Paris

Performance Workshop 7/10/14

In this performance workshop, we ran through the play as many times as possible. We particularly focused on our transitions between each scene. As a class, this helped us to have a better understanding of timing and also allowed the play to flow. Myself and Imogen worked on our scene when i'm talking about our mother in Paris. We added much more emotion and laughter into the scene which made it to seem much more naturalistic and easier to deliver. It also made me feel like I could be more engaged in my charcter as I knew my lines and understood the context. I took into consideration my units and pace of my mini monologue. Being fluent in my lines and knowing exactly when our transitions are allowed me to feel much more confident on stage. Myself and Maria (Dunyasha) also worked on our scene. We both decided to add excitment and gossip into our conversation which made the scene humourous and much more engaging. When Dunyasha is talking about how she is in love, I say "Nothing else" adding laughter and pull her towards the table for her to do my hair whilst I listen to the gossip. This definetly helped to show the audience the close relationship that Anya and Dunyasha share together. We also worked on our voices and accents to make our scene as naturalistic as possible.
As a class i we all worked a lot harder than we have been as I feel everyone is dedicated to their character and getting our scenes to the best that we can. I have really enjoyed rehearsing for The Cherry Orchard as it has given me chances to understand my strengths and weaknesses. I have developed my character understanding in depth and feel prepared for the upcoming performance.

Character Profile

Who am I?My name is Anya, I am the daughter of Raynevskaya. I am a young,caring teenager who has a close relationship with both mother and sister. I am full of curiosity and enjoy reading and studying. I have had sheltered upbringing throughout my whole life. I come across to everyone as being hopefull and full of life, and towards the end of the play, see the sale of The Cherry Orchard as a new beginging. I desire to become a nun when i'm older, however struggle to see this becoming reality due to my familys financial status. I persive myself to be a loving and genourous person who has a friendly and addictive persoanlity. I am virtuous and strong and completley in love with Trofimov. 

Where am I?I have just arrived home from a trip to Paris with my mother. We enter into the nursery where my mother starts to become emotional. The furniture is just the same as it used to be before we left. "My room, my windows, just as if ive never been away". This is my home. This is where my childhood grew and still grows today. My home is the most personal place in the entire world. Its the closest and best thing my family have together.

When is it?Its may, spring. The blossoms are starting to grow. It is night time and the air is becoming bitter. The windows are cold but I can still feel the frost.

Where have I come from?I have just arrived home from a trip to Paris with my mother. I arrived by train, however our journey was major delayed and my mother could not afford to go first class. Varya is particularly pleased to see us. I am relived to finally be home with my family again and see my bedroom and Orchard.

What do I need?I want to educate myself, I want to learn how to become a nun with the right books and study material. I have many goals and want to be able to archive them.

Why do I need it?I want to be able to provide for myself, have an education to get a job and be able to help the financial situation that is currently occurring in my family.

Why do I need it now?If I don't start to earn myself money, then the Orchard may soon be sold. I want my mother to be happy and excited, and I don't want to loose out on what we have.

ACT 1 - The Cherry Orchard (Helped me to interpret Anya further) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI9x6b8Vdow

23/9/12 Performance Workshop

Blocking our scenes

We began the lesson by continuing the blocking of our scenes.  We began with the scene of the arrival of the family. Having being put on the spot to know our lines and understand where we were meant to be at the time really helped myself and the rest of the group understand where there are areas for improvement, as I feel that I improvised my lines slightly. However, rehearsing this scene gave me a clear understanding of each characters personality and how different characters have different relationships.

Myself and Imogen (Varya) worked on our scene, focusing on how to present our relationship on stage. I found that this really helped my understanding of my character. For example when Varya takes over Dunyasha from doing my hair, I feel that it shows how Anya is a very liked character, who is friendly to everyone and does not take social class into consideration, whereas Varya slightly jealous of the pairs relationship, therefore sends Dunyasha away. The scene between Aya and Varya is extremely important and emotional, as we find out about the familys issue with money. Myself and Imogen blocked this scene a few times to perfect it and became off book. Knowing my lines off by heart helped me to say them with confidence and add in pauses. I felt that rehersing my scence with Imogen enabled me to have a clear understanding of the sisters relationship. However, I think myself and the rest of the group need to work on actioning our lines in our own time. Naturalism is what the group is aiming for, therefore in order to create a natural play, the whole group need to be confident with lines which I feel we are with as much practice as possible. 


Self observation sheet