Pace

Pace was the major problem mentioned by Miss Norzian after our Full Dress Rehearsal on 23 April.

Therefore we discussed that...

1. Start off the play in a light-hearted mood - Slow Paced (Comedic, playful): Johnson is remorseful and defensive
2. After "Yes now, you were taken ill" - Quicken pace slightly: Examiners start to get more annoyed
3. "Loosen those tensed muscles!" - Climax: Examiners must bring energy all the way up!
4. Johnson's response "Look here ladies, just a minute" - Slow down the pace, bring intensity down, CHILL
5. Examiners mock at how people tries to be fit - Light-hearted mood, moderate pace
6. Examiners start to be sarcastic, and boasts about their knowledge "How far have you tried to acquaint yourself...etc": look down on Johnson, bomb him with the facts SLOWLY
7. "Have you ever brushed up your French?" Climax
8. Tell Johnson about the achievements of other people to intimidate him "A postman in .."
9. First examiner gets irritated "Kindly tell us what we ask you to tell us" - Quicken the pace and intensity, show the dark elements
10. Johnson shuts Second Examiner up at "inheritors of a great empire" and answer First examiner's question: Slow down the pace
11. Second examiner gets pissed and shuts Johnson up: Brings up intensity to climax, show dark elements
12. Towards the end, Johnson is about to breakdown, extremely intimidated
13. "For example, the Gold standard as against..." Examiners are showing off their knowledge to Johnson
14. Johnson is on the verge of crying at the end of the play: Tear the Form - end the play in a intimidated, "dark" manner

"We must pace our play better and allow the audience to breathe. Don't just bomb bomb bomb all the way or it will get boring and meaningless to watch."

Improvements:
1. Good use of physicality
2. More dark elements shown
3. Examiners actions are more synchronized
4. Johnson's energy level is much more comparable to the Examiners

Thursday will be our assessment already! Good luck to us! :D Work hard people!
Next rehearsal on Tuesday? :)

p/s: Boo should let down her hair to make her look for frustrated and messy.
We are not using Strobe light anymore.

Here are the changes we have made during the last rehearsal (at the blackbox) :

Basically, we did a lot of work on our movements, where we are supposed to walk to, what actions we should do while saying specific lines.

From our showcase comments, we have to work on incorporating more dark elements to our play, so we have decided to do this by making Johnson physically appear as scared. There are more instances where johnson will back away from the examiners, and even hide behind the sofa and to show that the examiners are really pushing her to the edge, they will actually grab her arms and pull her back up.

We have also decided to make use of more levels. There is one point where the first examiner (ME!) says "Nearly all systems...devised by professional strongmen...", this line will be said by me while I am standing on the table, to show the use of our set.

We also got the comment that we should play around with set more, and to make it seem more like a "fun house". we have decided to make use of the swivel chairs to do this. Both examiners will roll across from each other, not show some sort of playful attitude.

On top of that, we also worked on the examiner's mirroring. Since it is quite hard to be exact mirrors of each other, we decided to be practical and only incorporate mirroring in certain parts of the script, for example, at the lines "For example, the gold standard...", "You have helped to bring them into this world, but what kind of world have you brought them into?" etc. etc. This is to allow each examiner to also be individuals and have certain characteristics of their own.

This rehearsal was very successful as we managed to make major changes in our play according to the comments given by our peers during the showcase. However, we can do better if we REMEMBER our changes in stage directions so that everything will be smoother.

Keep up the good work everyone, but still keep improving too!

xoxo,
Mel. (Bimbo!!)

Rehearsals next week

Hey guys, reminder for next week's rehearsal!
As we only can have 2 hours of bbox booking, our rehearsal timings are as follows:

Monday - 5pm to 6pm (tech run)
Friday - 6pm to 7pm (mel and ruishan's mirroring coordination. play with space and furniture)

We must make full use of the time given in the bbox alright!

Things we have to improve on after Thursday's showcase:
1. Rachel's (Johnson) energy level in the play - have to match up to examiners' energy level
2. More coordination and mirroring of the two examiners - (Circling around Johnson, slowly approaching him from two different corners etc.)
3. Play with space and furniture (eg. roller chairs and overturned tables)
4. Show more dark elements of the play (not only the bright and comedic side, but the disturbing/dark side of the play)
5. Pushing Johnson to the edge - More pressure and intensity on Johnson when questioning him
6. Similar but Different (examiners) - (First)Melissa more serious, (Second)Rui Shan more bubbly. Same outfit, socks must switch sides!
7. More layers in the characters (this is a really difficult thing to improve on hahahaha Miss Norzian's feedback btw)

These are all based on what I remember cos I didnt bring my feedback paper back home! :p
Alright, so for now we must concentrate on these points and bring this play to a higher level!

Signing off,
Rui Shan

Changes

Alright guys! Because Mangay is leaving us, we'll be having the following changes in our play that we've decided on in today's group meeting:

1. Main Character will be taken over by Rachel.
2. Play will start straight from the interrogation scene by the two Examiners, Rui Shan and Melissa.
3. Voice to be recorded and played when Johnson wakes up and find himself in the interrogation room, informing Johnson: "Welcome to the Central offices of the Universal Asurance and Globe Loan and Finance Coporation. Where you get your money. Please fill in your form properly and concentrate. Our examiners will be here in a moment for the usual preliminary questions. Please take a good look at your form. Thank you." (to take over the Clerk's role in introducing the venue and event of the play.
(tentative) - When Johnson takes out his pipe to smoke, voice play: "No smoking in the office before five-fifteen."
4. Changes in the gender of Johnson - Robert Johnson is now known as Rebecca Johnson. Hence there will be changes to the "him"s and etc. in the script.
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Our costumes and props are more or less ready and placed in the BBox already. Right now we just have to just find Rachel her plain pyjamas, the pipe and the clipboards (pipe not confirmed yet).

Showcase will be next thursday, 9 April. We are hoping to get at least 2 slots before next thursday in the BBox for rehearsal as there are many changes to our play. Hence, definitely even more practice is required. Bookings of the BBox will be confirmed by the end of this week.

As Miss Norzian is more particular about our body movements and physical attributes in this assessment, we would stick to simple lightings and sounds, putting more focus in our acting skills. Also, in order to familiarize with the actual setting, we would make use of the showcase to try out with the entire feel of costumes and props to be able to improve the play for the final assessment. There will also be more for audience to comment for improvement of the play.

JOJ wishes Mangay all the best in Sinapore Poly! :)

signing off,
Rui Shan