Road: Evaluation

‘Road’ ~ By Jim Cartwright:

My interpretation of the text began when we were first introduced to Road, was as the character Valerie [see Blog Post 1] however, a  more relevant approach to my text interpretations would come under the character I played, Louise. Beginning with her first scene, I knew immediately that this brother and sister relationship was odd-he is extremely intimidating towards her, but not just in a ‘brotherly way’.  Reading into this: their parents clearly don’t care to much for their children, ‘where’s mum and dad?’, which lead me to thinking that their father used to abuse ‘brother’. I say this with the knowledge that our childhoods hugely effect who we are now; which can often mean, if someone is aggressive, intimidating and abusive it is often, all down to their childhood. I knew that to master this scene, I had to use my reactioning as well as Jake having to create a really intimidating character. This purely came with practise and feed-back . My second feature in Road, as Louise; is an entrance in Brenda and Carol’s scene. Stupidly enough, my first text interpretations of- ‘my shoulder pads slipped’- was that this was her actual shoulder pad- hear me out! This was a means for her to cover up her entering in a rush, she is a quiet character so any excuse she could use to distract people from her real emotions she would use an petty excuse. After researching more I gathered that this was in relevance to an ‘outfit shoulder pad’. My final scene had a lot of subtle text interpretations I could take from Louise; such as ‘Carol you’re terrible’ which highlights that Louise likes these boys, and is apprehensive that Carol is going to ruin it for her. This also proves that Louise isn't this quiet, tag-along character I had first put name to her.

My engagement during college rehearsals, I think was of a good level. I made the consistent effort to be active especially during the sessions in which I wasn't needed practically. By doing this, I was both helping myself as an actor, as well as helping others. My personal management, I also believe was of a good level, I had my lines learnt early on and I also had a good understanding of Louise from an early stage which helped me with my research as well as keeping on top of my on-line blogging process- which all links into my time management. This project has proven to me, more so, that I work well in a group and so it was nice to be in a group who made it easy for me to put in my ideas and interpretations, due to us all getting on well. With that said, I think we all responded well to our feedback. Personally, I know that I went away and worked on looking back through my feedback and practising these changes at home to bring into proper practise the following college day. And all this definitely resulted in a positive effect both in rehearsals and in the performances themselves.

I fully believe my development through the means of Louise has come a long way this first starting this project. The feedback given to me has been a really, really big part of this as well as the feedback I gave to other characters. I did a lot of experimenting as Louise, starting her off as a quiet character, with no real backstory and just a simple tag-along to Carol. She then turned out to be the opposite of a ‘tag-along’ thanks to a bit of experimentation especially when trying to boost up my performance of the monologue in which I really wanted to make punchy to prove her ‘unseen side.’ The accent was one of the two largest experimentations done, it took me a lot of work/practise to master the accent which included ‘experimenting’ in our rehearsal sessions despite the fact it was still weak in those early days. The second would be the costume designs, which [see Blog 7 onwards] originally became something very much in my comfort zone, and ended up the complete opposite. Risks were taken through the means of slight improvisation which featured through improvised text, reactions and dancing; especially the dancing which was something I found difficult. So was the development of Louise as I knew I didn’t want her to be like me. My interpretations have really developed from those early days in which I was beginning to regret choosing her as a character in fear she was too much like me-quiet, and as a character, probably quite uninteresting. She was the total opposite, she had so many hidden meanings which proved really interesting to uncover as we I developed, such as her ‘difficult’ parents and upbringing.

The two performances were a success, with the evening being even more so than the matinee; personally. I felt I delivered with a lot more energy than the matinee. I felt my consistency of Louise was strong, and this included my accent (however I did lose it once, ‘she’s gone off because she likes you really’) physically I was definitely not myself; I was Louise with my reactions and interactions ensuring even if accidents happened i.e. me and Lewis spilling a drink, I stayed in character ~ This commitment lead me to constantly thinking of ‘how would Louise react’. Especially backstage in which I kept my energy up with pacing in the wings. With past experiences I understand the audience’s position, so my audience engagement meant I knew how to get them to react, for example making my acting as realistic as possibly to make it relatable i.e. the kiss.  I felt confident with Louise in the performances, I felt fully dedicated to her and I also felt my work dedicated towards developing her as character paid off.

My strengths definitely lay in the written process, I love doing the blogs incorporating other character interpretations, as well as my own character, opinions and ideas about Road, extra research as well as feedback notes given by myself or given to me. I thrive off of being able to go away and write my own opinions in the comfort of myself as such, it’s a confidence thing. I enjoyed doing the research I did, as well as those I did for other characters as I felt I really knew Road by the end of it. My weakness would be my confidence. I could've really excelled in questioning directing notes in a positive way, in order to really understand our adaptation of the play. And I know I could've given the rehearsals a lot more, such as the first try of the ‘dancing’ scene.

My targets definitely consist of continuation of confidence work. But to also keep up on my organised blogging as well as my well-planned character work which was heavily practised at home as well as in college; which all paid off.  For my next performance, I need to move even further away from my own characterisation- especially as Louise was a lot closer to home than Rachel (from ‘13’, Mike Bartlett) was. A female version of Bisto… One day!