My Production Journey - Production Diaries (Year 1, Term 2)

Candidate Declaration - I confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work* and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself.

Monday 6th November - Acting Audition!

Today was the first official day for the Christmas show we are performing at the Arc, Stockton - 'Peter Pan the British Musical' and it was a busy one! During our half term holidays Kelly sent us the audition pieces we would need to learn for our chosen character. We proceeded with the day by firstly doing a few warm up games such as wink murder and splat to get us in an energetic mood, then we each individual go into the theatre and it was done by characters (all the Hooks then Wendy's then Peters etc.) and it took all day. I was a bit nervous but overall it was a fun day as when i wasn't auditioning i was helping other people with their audition pieces and it was great to help my classmates. Overall, the day went by quite quickly and it was a long process but it was a good learning experience.

Tuesday 7th November - Callback Audition

Today we were meant to be doing the singing auditions however Tom couldn't make it to the class today, so instead Kelly did a callback audition process. Anyone auditioning for one of the three main parts (Peter, Wendy, Hook) were to come in and work with other people going for one of the other roles. She did this so she could see how we worked with other people and if we fitted the role nicely. I was paired with Taron and Connor. Overall it was a great experience working with these people, we gave each other feedback on what we thought could be improved and we showed our pieces to Kelly. I enjoyed today as i got to see how my other class mates worked closely with one another, as well as getting to do the same thing myself. The whole point of today was to give an extra bit of leverage on the auditions, so that you could prove yourself even more to Kelly. This was useful as i find working with other people easier than on my own therefore i had more confidence today than i did in the first acting audition.

Wednesday 8th November - Movement and Singing Audition

Today we started the day with the movement audition with Abi. It was really enjoyable for me as i used to do dancing and i miss it a bit, therefore doing a bit of dance for my character was really fun. We did a small dance piece that wasn't too advanced so i picked it up quite easily. It was to a song called 'We're going home' from the Peter Pan musical we were doing, which was great as it was an upbeat, catchy song. We got into groups of 3 for this dance, and we had to show off our characterisation whilst doing the dance so that Kelly and Abi could see how we are with dancing and characterising at the same time. After we had learnt it, we showed the pieces individually to them. I loved this piece and i loved working with the others. Shortly after the movement auditions, we started with the singing auditions! These auditions took up the rest swiftly we were on to the Wendy's. I don't think this one went as well as i was nervous and i feel as if my voice went all shaky and bad. However, it was still a fun experience and getting to help others with their auditions was also extremely fun.

Thursday 9th November - Ensemble Work

Today we worked on ensemble characters! As Kelly didn't know how many casts or who to cast at this point in time, we spent the day focusing on who we would want to be in other casts as we would all be an ensemble character at some point. We got to pick which ensemble character we would like to work on, either a lost boy, brave girl or a pirate. I chose to be a lost boy as i love how energetic the characters get to be and how expressive they are. We worked on these characters all day to see if Kelly agreed with our choices as what to be for ensemble characters, but also because there are some named, talking roles within these character groups therefore it helped Kelly decide who to give these roles to. It was such a fun day! We got to explore new characters and create an entrance into a scene and a full scene of the lost boy act. I was one of the twins with Keiran and we created some great, funny characters and i really enjoyed it therefore i was looking forward to hopefully being a lost boy in the real show!

FOR MORE IN DEPTH PERSPECTIVE OF AUDITIONS SEE :

https://siennasactingexperience.blogspot.com/2023/11/ual-assignment-2-2023-peter-pan.html

Monday 13th November - Cast Day

Today was the day that we found out our casts and our roles for the production! Kelly spent a lot of time thinking about these roles and therefore wanted to individually tell us who we got and why we got it. So it took up all of the day. Whilst we waited we spent the day doing acting games and engaging our mind so we were still focused and learning. We played quite a few games of different categories, including things such as ninja, splat, etc. but we also played some that were longer and more about focusing on a character. For example, we played a game where we had to be an animal of our choice in a night club. We had to move like that character as well as act and interact with other people like it. Overall, it was a fun day and we got told our roles! Unfortunately i did not get the role of Wendy however i got my second choice of Michael Darling which i was thrilled with. As well as this main role, i also got a talking lost boy character called Nibs which i was beyond happy with as i wanted to be a lost boy from the ensemble work the other day. On top of these amazing roles, Kelly asked me who i wanted to be for a third role, another lost boy, a brave girl or a pirate and i chose a brave girl. I was so happy with these roles and couldn't wait to start!

Tuesday 14th November - Singing and Learning

Now that everyone was given their roles, we spent the day working with Tom on singing the songs as the correct characters we are. We have been learning the songs since the beginning of college which made this a lot easier, it was more so that we could keep working at them and starting to get the harmonies with our correct cast and peers. This was extremely helpful as it gave me a chance to focus more with Tom on the songs that i would actually be using in the shows and not just all of them with everyone. When we weren't with Tom focusing on something, we took the day to go find a spot with a small group or alone to go over the scripts for the first time! We spent the time highlighting our lines for each character, going over small parts with each other and just overall starting to learn our script. We did this so that we were prepared for the blocking to come.

Wednesday 15th November - Dancing / Movement

Today we had a day focusing on the dancing part of the show. We had a full day with Abi and she is a focus on dance. As there was so many of us in many casts, it got split up but fortunately my cast got first with Abi! We went into the black box room and started working 'Wendy's Song' dance piece. We focused on this first as it was the first song with all the lost boys and with it being a musical, we included small dance pieces into the acting. This is good because it's an extra challenge to us as we aren't on a musical theatre course therefore it is unexpected for us to do a musical but a great challenge. I loved the choreography that got made, it was so simple yet so good as our characterisation prioritised over the dancing. Abi let us put our own creativity onto the piece and give her suggestions to the dance which was great as we all suggested things and worked as a team. After we finished choreographing the dance, we swapped over to the other groups where i started working on the other lost boy scene before this dance which is the entrance to neverland and my character's first solo interaction on stage with the pirates. This was great fun as it was full creative freedom to be as big and as random as we wanted - we are playful lost boys after all!

Thursday 16th November -  Costumes

Today we spent the day looking into what costumes we wanted for our characters and continued running the play. We started off by getting into our ensemble groups (main character costumes were being dealt with separately) because we wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page and had similar costumes to one another. I went with the lost boy ensemble at first and we discussed for awhile what we wanted, we even went to the college thrift shop to see if it had any of the ideas we were looking for. We agreed with dark colour, fur and  messy miss match and it was very productive. I then asked the brave girls what we were going for and we went for camouflage cargo's and a white top so we were all matching like a tribe. After this, we carried on rehearsing and running the piece as it goes and when i was not in a scene i sat on my Chromebook looking into more costumes and at the same time learnt my lines. Overall it was a very productive day.

Monday 20th November - Independent Day

Today was a very independent working day as everyone split off and did many different things. For the first half of the day, i spent my time in the black box room with the lost boys and went over Wendy's song the dance and the singing as it needed improving. Over this time we got feedback from others and got our energy levels up and made this better and better. It went really well and was very productive as you could tell the difference as we did it more and more. For the second half of the day i was working with the brave girls as i hadn't learnt the brave girl scene yet as i was focusing on lost boy stuff. I watched what they had done so far and quickly picked up on it, joining in but i also added some suggestions which the team took on board! It was very fun to work with the brave girls as it was a completely different vibe to the lost boys. In between all of this i was watching other people rehearse because i like to see what other people are working on and if i can help them in any way. I loved the day, it was so fun!

Tuesday 21st November - Singing and Blocking

Today we had Tom again so we had a focus on singing with him for the most part. However, when we were not with Tom we were allowed to split off and start blocking our scenes or we could sit and learn lines. I took this opportunity to look at what my fellow peers had been creating and i loved it and i also was learning my lines when i wasn't singing. I was so happy we had Tom again because it gave me more confidence for the singing parts in the show and allowed me to be able to ask questions about what i was struggling with and have it changed. For example, Michael did the highest 'second to the right' however i couldn't go that high but Wendy could so Tom swapped us over so that i wasn't doing the highest one and it went so much better. I was thankful for this and it was a very good day!

Wednesday 22nd November - Brave girl dance with Abi, capture scene

Today we had Abi again which was great because we got to focus on movement again and i love movement! Today was all about getting a scene together for the Brave Girl's song. I think that this went really really well because it was a simple dance routine but with the confidence and the boldness of the brave girl characters it fit in really really nicely. We started of by having cast one do it and the other casts watch so that we could get a general idea of what we were doing. We then started to fill in from there with Abi still watching to make sure that we knew what we were doing. She was there for support and she was amazing because she took our ideas into account and let us have a bit of creative freedom that matched our character that we had created. When i wasn't focusing on the brave girl dance, i was going over the capture scene as a lost boy! We spent the day blocking out the scene just before they all get captured then we added the pirates in and had different pirates take different lost boys at the same time. It worked really well and it showed the teamwork we all can produce. Overall a productive day!

Thursday 23rd November - Big fight scene

Today we were focusing on the big fight scene between the lost boys and pirates. What was great about this is we had Tom who has knowledge on stage combat and knows how to make it all be done correctly with nobody getting hurt. We had to organise which lost boy was fighting who and how we could switch this with different casts. As nibs, i was fighting Harvey and as Michael i was fighting Callum. It went really well. We got time to prepare our own little fight scene on our own and how we want to make the lost boys win, then we all put that into one big scene with help from Tom blocking it and where he wants each different fight to take place and at what time so that the stage didn't go too crowded. Overall, it was really good and it was fun. It was nice to watch when i wasn't in it as well because it looks really good.

Monday 27th November - Moving and Rehearsing

Today was the day that we moved into Bobby Dazzlers dance studio! It was a great change in setting in my opinion as there was more room and better than having to fight for rehearsal space with musical theatre as they also had their Christmas show coming up. I also think it allowed us to space out more yet be in close proximity at the same time so if people were needed in another area it was easy to get to them. Today it was cast 1 focusing on the lost boy dances both parts of Wendy's song - this included learning the second half of the song and the routine that Gracie (our dance captain) choreographed with Abi. Alongside this, the pirates were going over their song of rich damp cake. Whilst this was happening downstairs, i gathered all my cast 2 Darlings upstairs to do the beginning song 'we are the darlings' as i didn't fully understand the harmonys. After a long long time trying to figure it out, we finally got it and moved onto blocking the scene. It was great!

Tuesday 28th November - Singing with Tom

Today was another day fully based around the vocals and going over already blocked scenes as we are getting closer and closer to show day! We started off the morning by all sitting in the dance studio and singing through all of the songs with Tom there to support us. We took turns in casts reading the scene before the song happens and then going straight into the song straight from doing the lines. This helped as it allowed us to keep the rhythm flowing whilst also having that extra support from tom to make sure it all went well. After this, we all split off but Tom took people again by group to go over their songs. Whilst this was happening, we all went and blocked more scenes. I went over the darlings scene again as i feel like that is what i need the most work on however i also looked into the lost boy scenes as well. As well as looking at my own scenes, i also sat and watched what other people were doing at certain points in the day when people i needed were busy and helped with the music. I enjoyed watching the blocking for 'rich damp cake' as that is one that i watched quite a few times. It was a very productive day and i enjoyed it.

Wednesday 29th November - Darling's Song Dance.

Today we had another day with Abi which is great because she helped us choreograph our first song of the show which was the darlings scene. It was great fun. She worked on cast 1 first, creating the choreography to the song with them. To ensure it was easier for me to learn it, i sat and watched this and i also recorded and wrote some things down. Due to this when we got to swap into the scene that was just created, i found it much easier and i only struggled with one little thing as the order confused me however i got this cleared up for me later on. I enjoyed doing this scene with Abi as it is one of if not my favourite scene in the whole play and she was very helpful, giving feedback and taking our own ideas into account for the scene as well. It also meant i got to run this scene properly with everyone who was part of the scene in it and with knowing exactly what we were going to do in the show. It was such a fun day! 

Thursday 30th November - Independent Day

Today was another day of slipping off and doing our own thing. I came in early on the morning because i was a darling and we ran through the darling scenes again with Kelly. This was great because we got to figure out how to do the flying this morning and it was perfect. We managed to get a flying crew and we got ourselves comfortable with how we would fly, the directions, etc. I then moved on to helping the dance captain Gracie choreograph the final dance ''We're going home''. I helped by doing the dance when she needed to see what it looked like and putting in a few suggestions. When we were done with this, we moved on to Brave girl stuff which was so much fun! In my cast for brave girls we decided to do tricks so we spent the day running the scene and figuring out what to do. We decided to do a supported back flip and i got to flip! It took a lot of practising to get it right but it was worth it in the end because we managed to do it. It was a productive and very fun and flippy day!

Monday 4th December - Lost Boy Dance with Tom

Today we had Tom again and we are one week from show week! it was great to have Tom as he helped with what we were working on yesterday. Me and Gracie showed Tom what was choreographed for the lost boy dance and he took that and helped finish off the dance with everyone else there. It was so fun to do and to switch in as different characters each time. We got the choreography right in the end and it was great, we did this over and over for the whole afternoon to make sure we remembered it. The only thing that was a bit rocky about this was the words to the song as we hadn't really focused on this one yet. However, we had time to go away and learn the song so it was okay for show day. I really enjoyed today because i love movement and dancing therefore a day full of it was exactly what i like! 

Tuesday 5th December - Cast 3 run through

Today we spent the day doing a whole Cast 3 run through. It was very good and efficient because this meant that we had fully done with the blocking with spare days left to go before we entered the Arc! When we weren't in the scene, we sat and watched, making notes to interpret into our own character if we wanted to and just genuinely enjoying the performance we were putting on. This cast i was a Brave girl therefore i wasn't needed much however it was so nice to sit and watched what everyone had put their hard work in creating. Overall it was a good day and it was productive because it meant that everyone was on the same page and knew what they were doing for it.

Wednesday 6th December - Cast 1 run through

Today was the same as yesterday, yet a different cast. We did a cast 1 run through. In this, i was a lost boy and i was needed quite a lot and it was very nice to run through the whole thing as it allowed me to find my entry points a lot easier and it meant that we got to understand what was happening before and after our scenes better. It was such a fun day!

Thursday 7th December - Cast 2 run through

Today was again the same as the last two days but this time it was my main cast! It was great help today as i was in most of the scenes so it was nice to be able to know when i was needed, what was happening and how to improve. I knew how to improve from watching the others who also have the same role as me in other casts do these parts previously. Overall a very efficient day!

Monday 11th December - Arc Tech Run Day

Today was our first day at the Arc!! It was so exciting but it was also such a long day. We spent part of the morning preparing what we were going to do then we got cast one onto the stage ready for all the tech work to be done. We spent the day focusing on the lighting and the sound making sure that everything was perfect so there was a lot of stopping and starting and going back to certain parts, however it was worth it because by the end of the day we had done half of the play blocked through properly on the arc stage with the lighting and sound. When we weren't in the scene focusing on the lighting, we were helping figuring out how to bring things onto the stage from the wings such as the house for Wendys house. Overall a productive day!

Tuesday 12th December - Act 2 Tech Run, Full Run Through

Today was the second day of the arc and it was another long one. We spent the morning doing the last bit of tech rehersal we needed to do as we didnt manage to finish it all yesterday which was perfectly fine. This went smoothly and we got to start help building set! We built a cute little tree and put the crocodile together and figured out how this was coming off and on stage. After all the tech and building part was done with, we got onto doing a full cast run through which was so efficient and good for us. We managed to run through it successfully and everything went well. I feel like we are very prepared for the show days coming up and i am so exctied!

SHOW DAYS!!!

Wednesday 13th December - Show day 1

Today was the first day of the shows!! I was so excited, in this cast i am a lost boy so we started bright and early with help from the make up department! I started off doing my own base makeup then heading down there to get dirt and things put on my face. As todays performance was the relaxed performance, it meant we could do our own makeup for the first one as it wasnt as extreme. Therefore i helped some of my classmates with their makeup, making their faces dirty and in general stage makeup. We then move on to the performance and it was incredible. It was so fun to play Nibs, i felt so in the moment and in role at all times and i was so confident with what was happening. It was a great start to the show week! In between this show and the next, we did a cast 3 run through as they were the next day show. This was beneficial as it allowed me to do my brave girl scene on the actual stage and have the audience there to run into. We then move on to the night time show which was just as good if not better than the morning! The make up was more vibrant i had green all over my face and we just uplifted everything and it was such a positive experience and i enjoyed it so so much. My favourite scene with this show was definitely when i ran on saying ''its a wonder its a wonder'' as my character brought chaos to the stage and i just thought it was so amazing and i did this so boldly and loudly. Bring on the next shows!

Thursday 14th December - Show day 2

It was now time for the second day of the shows! I was so excited for this as today was my Brave girl character. This meant that i was only in it for a short while however i got to go into the audience and interact with everyone! The day started early with getting glitter on my face and putting my hair into a specific hair style to match the others. It was so fun. The first audience we had was a primary school which just added to the excitement because it meant i could go into the audience and high five them all with high energy and a smile. So many of them wanted to high five me and it was so fun! I was crying by the end of this show as a little girl told me i was her favourite. This was such an incredible show and everything we had planned went well. Then we had a break between shows and in this we did a cast 2 run through because the show for cast two was tomorrow. I was very happy that we did this because it was my main cast day tomorrow and it meant i was more prepared for what was coming. We then move on to the afternoon show and we did this a bit differently, handing out rocks to people in the audience and it was again such an incredible experience. Everyone was interacting with me and it was so great. Another thing i absolutely adored about the show day was my flip on stage! It went perfectly both times we did it and it shocked the audience. It was so fun and an incredible experience.

Friday 15th December - Show day 3

Today was my favourite show day as it was my main cast day and the last final shows. Words cannot describe how incredible the feeling of being on stage performing as Michael Darling was. The day started really early again as our first show was at -- am. The first thing i did when i got to the globe was put on my costume and then i headed down to George in the makeup department and he did my stage makeup for the day and it was incredible! We also spent a little bit of time doing any last final preparations like making sure the stage was set properly, vocal warm ups and mic checks. The other stuff we did on the morning was just chilling out to make sure we were all ready with no nerves for the show. I wasn't feeling nervous at all for today, i was feeling so excited and prepared to show off the hard work i had been doing for this character and to just enjoy the feeling of being on stage with my cast. Then it started, people started filling their seats and everyone was preparing themselves ready on stage and in the wings. It was such an incredible experience. I was the first person to speak in this performance, my entrance was the beginning of the performance and it was the best thing ever. I adored being on the stage with my darlings and acting and singing with them all. The opening scene went exactly how we wanted it to go. The whole darlings house scenes all went to plan. I had to be asleep on stage whilst the rest of this was happening and it sounded incredible. I loved the interactions i had on stage in these first few scenes for this performance as it was done a little bit differently on the night time. The character was so much fun to do and we had such an incredible audience this morning. We had a primary school and they were so interactive with us and what we had prepared for them. The acts and the scenes went perfectly as they were planned every time. My favourite scene was definitely the first scene though, as even the flying went so well for me which is what was worrying me a little bit as the direction got changed last minute. I did everything as i did it in the rehersals and i was so proud of the performance. Another thing which went really well about the performance was the dance ''we're going home''. I loved doing this as i felt like i could be so much more over the top and expressionative with this song and singing and dancing, it was so much fun and with the primary school audience they were interacting with us so well and i loved it. We then swiftly moved on to the afternoon show, however in between this, we got to chill out as we weren't worried for the show we had coming up. It was really funny, we did dance battles, vocal warm ups and overall just had fun and chilled out in the arc so we could have a positive experience and be calm and ready for our next show! We then had makeup calls again and my makeup was redone ready for the next show. I was so excited to do this next show but i was a bit nervous as it was our last show ever for this Christmas and i had family coming to watch this show also. However, when i was actually on the stage acting it out i wasn't worried at all. I was so happy and thrilled to be performing. The times when i wasn't on stage i was stood in the wings watching my class mates and i have never been more proud of them. By the end of the show i was crying because of how proud i was of myself and everyone else who was surrounding me, it was such a surreal experience and i will forever be greatful for it. It was incredible to watch everyone and to perform in this show and i loved this experience so so much.