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.
Task 1 - Developing your skills
A. I started my first year at college with easing myself into the year, not going for a role too big as i wanted to not put too much pressure on myself and was quite nervous for what was coming, playing the role of a 'Victorian Newspaper Girl.' During this i learnt a lot and improved as an actor as i had to join the audience at various points throughout. This was great, yet sometimes i could've worked on my cue's and volume. However, this improved my staying in character and in the moment skills. We then swiftly moved on to 'Peter Pan' which was a musical, where i challenged myself a bit more, landing the role of 'Michael Darling,' a supporting role. This was a challenge as i hadn't really had any roles which required a song which made me nervous, however it was a good challenge to my skills. This improved me as an actor as it advanced my musical theatre skills - helping gain confidence with singing and allowed me to act through song and dance. It also improved me as an actor as playing the opposite gender requires changing the physicality and use of movement on stage. After this, we started our National Theatre Connections project where i played a mean girl, yet had no lines. This improved my acting ability as i had to focus on just my stage presence - facial expressions, body language, etc. allowing me to completely understand and create my own story for my character - not just what is already given to them. It also improved me as an actor as i got to watch the story unfold on stage and help tell the story without drawing any attention away from the main characters.
Everything throughout the year helped improve a certain aspect of my performance skills however the one that i think was my strongest point of the year was playing 'Irene' and 'Harriet' in 'Radium Girls' as it combined all of these skills i had been improving on all year. From the first show, i had learnt to improve on my volume and understanding when my cue's are - fully understanding the script. We had used songs in Radium Girls, which thanks to Peter Pan, i was quite confident with by the time the show started, as i had already sang on stage which helped the acting through song - even when it was a completely different atmosphere. During my non-speaking parts, i was able to keep myself in character and focus on my stage presence thanks to Connections. As well as all of this, Radium Girls itself helped improve me as an actor as it was strong ensemble work and improved my chemistry with others on stage, as my scenes all included others and specifically about the bond the girls had. We also worked on accents throughout radium girls, and this gave me a great introduction to accents.
B. In my opinion, the main gap in my skillset is character work, i struggle with playing an over the top character and tend to fall back into my comfort zone of naturalistic acting, therefore playing a big, over the top character would be great to improve myself. I also struggle with different accents, which is a personal note to be able to broaden my skillset by learning different accents. Another gap i think i have is singing. Over the year, my confidence in singing has grown but not to an extent where i feel i could do a solo song, i'd love to improve my skills and confidence to that next level. Finally, the last thing i feel like i want to improve on over the year is widening my role range. Throughout the year i have noticed i have played quite similar roles, however i would love to widen my range by exploring new roles from all different aspects, such as a villain or an entertaining character.
Task 2 - Production Diaries and Collaborative Showcase
For production diaries for Term 1 - Ghost light Tours - see post: https://siennasactingexperience.blogspot.com/2024/09/my-production-journey-production.html
Goal: Work on accents and chemistry with others.
For production diaries for Term 2 - My Son Pinocchio - see post: https://siennasactingexperience.blogspot.com/2025/01/my-production-journey-production.html
Goal: Work on singing and acting through song, work on being over the top with big characters - i struggle with non-naturalistic acting.
For production diaries for Term 3 - National Theatre Connections / Feature Film - see post:
Goal: Allow myself to explore a more awkward character and focus on real naturalism in front of a camera. Work on a film set and understand what is going on both in front and behind the camera (if possible)
For the collaborative showcase preparations / information see post: https://siennasactingexperience.blogspot.com/2024/10/ual-assignment-1-unit-9-collaborative.html
Task 3 - Performance
Ghost light Tours - COMPLETED - Goal met? YES.
My Son Pinocchio - COMPLETED - Goal met? YES.
National Theatre Connections / Feature Film - BOTH COMPLETED - Goal met? YES - (BTS - Lighting & Mics)
Task 4 - Evaluations
Ghost Light Tour
Overall, i believe my performance of the Ghost Light Tour this year was great and an improvement on the last. The goal of this immersive performance is to not break character and to interact with the audience to guide them around to the different stages leading them to the end, in which myself and everyone did successfully as it all ran smoothly from scene to scene. My character this year was 'Bonnie' from the famous duo Bonnie & Clyde, her character is a true criminal driven by love, they are famous for their crimes they committed together, their motivation is to be remembered as legends with each other as a pair. I believe that i managed to deliver this correctly with my classmate in a lot of ways as we put a lot of time into thinking about the connection that they had, and worked on trying to demonstrate this chemistry as a pair. The intended impact this was meant to have on the audience was to show how love can drive people to anything and admiration of others can be deadly, as well as intimidate them with a hint of playfulness and deliver them the trinket to help with the next performance, in which i delivered successfully as throughout the whole performance i was focused on my Clyde and when i wasn't i was staring the audience down, slightly flirting with them as Clyde was being powerful over them. I also did this successfully as i gave the trinket to an audience member each show whilst staying in character. This is also an area that could be slightly improved on as during the second show an audience member spoke back to me and it threw me off a little bit, from this i learnt to not let the audience startle me and to be prepared for anything that could be thrown at me, especially within immersive pieces. All of this links in with Bonnie's emotional state, which i feel i demonstrated well by the final performance as she was so full of emotion and love for clyde throughout, which i was showing through my character interaction with him, hugging him, holding his arm, etc. I also demonstrate this through my facial expression and body language, constantly relaxed around him and looking at him in an admiring way with open eyes and a smile. Throughout the rehearsal process however, i did struggle to connect with these emotions as i was struggling to act totally in love with my classmate, however we worked past this and built the chemistry. My voice with my character is the part of the performance i am the most proud of, i struggle a lot with accents as they are not my strong suit and i managed to successfully deliver my lines in the correct, Texan accent - in which i got a compliment from the audience from. I also delivered my lines strong and loud, changing my pitch and pace depending on if i was talking to Clyde or the audience.
This has improved on last year as i have played a bigger role and i am very proud of it.
My Son Pinocchio
In my opinion, my performance as "Pinocchio" in "My Son Pinocchio" has been both my favourite and my best performance that i have done so far during my time at SRC. The goal i had for this Musical Theatre piece was to focus on over the top characteristics, making the character as big as it can be. I believed i did this effectively but still had areas i could've improved on. The overall theme for this production in my opinion is lessons. I believe that the point of the production was to show that you don't know what you have until its gone and a journey to understanding the importance of family. This makes the audience think about what they have in their own lives to be happy for, and how not everyone or everything has to be perfect. I believe i helped to bring this to life on stage in many ways, mainly through my emotions towards Gepetto, as my character goes from love - to hate - to love, all based on the journey he went down and what he learnt, and how he was being treated by his father. I think everyone in the production managed to meet this goal as a whole, as i have spoken to audience members who found the production to have an emotional inpact on them.
As for me personally with Pinocchio, i believe that my strongest point throughout the entire production was my emotional engagement with the character and with other characters on stage. Pinocchio is a little boy who is full of mischief and curious, yet just wanted to be loved by his father. His emotions in my opinion are quite complex, as he wants to learn more about the world and his curiosity takes over the majority of the time, therefore he is quite naive to any dangers going on. I believe i portrayed this well through my use of facial expressions like frowning eyebrows, wide eyes and open mouthed, when interacting with things that triggered his curiosity - a main example being when Stromboli first enters with the Marionettes, as this was a big moment for Pinocchio. Another major emotion that is portrayed through the play is the love and the bond between father and son. This was something that i felt i needed to get right with my Gepetto as this interaction is the most important throughout the play, understanding where the love lies and where the hatred and disappointment lies, finding a balance between the two. I feel like me and my Gepetto's sucessfully did this, through physical touch and body language, using hugs and a relaxed tone when interacting in the first scenes "Gepetto and Son" and holding hands, etc. I also however feel like we could've portrayed this a little bit better, as it still felt a bit awkward during the hugs - particularly the first one of the play. To tackle this and improve on this next time, i would work on that particular part over and over, and gain a stronger connection with the actor playing the other role, as it would allow that to be more relaxed and free. My biggest challenge however i believe of the performance was my voice. During the show week, i got very ill so i did not sound the same as i did in the rehearsal. In the rehearsal i used a high pitched voice, and fluctuated how i said each word depending on my emotions. Due to being ill, this was a struggle as sometimes the words wouldn't even come out, however i did it to the best of my ability. I also think my volume could've been improved, as i was relying on my mic a lot due to not being able to talk well. However, i think my articulation of my words was good, as everyone in the audience could understand what i was saying well.
Feature Film
In the feature film 'Curtain Call' i was casted as the role of Cindy, Liam's assistant. Cindy is an awkward character who is in love with Liam, her character motivation is to try to grab Liam's attention and love at any given moment, as well as try to prove her own innocence and Liams. In the sense of the storyline for the film, Cindy is the character that is there to throw people off who the actual murderer is - a red herring character. This made her very interesting to play, with multiple different ways of doing it. I believe i met this objective really well, as i had multiple people tell me they thought Cindy was the one who done it.
The biggest challenge about this role was the fact it was a screen role. Screen and stage are vastly different when it comes to acting, especially a role like this. It is more focused on naturalism, volume can be low and it is all in the subtle facial expressions and body language. The switch from stage to screen was a challenge for me, as i had to be able to bring everything down a notch, whilst still getting the message clearly across.
My biggest strength in my opinion would be my use of facial expression throughout. I believe this was executed well, as when reflecting and rewatching, it was very natural and realistic towards the camera, I believe i made a believable performance through it, subtle yet meaningful movements such as an eyebrow raise/frown, a side eye, etc. I really thrived within the naturalism of the piece. I also believe my use of props was strong, as a big part of my character was the use of her clipboard. It was sort of a safety blanket to show her awkwardness and commitment to having everything organised and there for Liam when it was needed. It added to the character a lot - allowing me to build upon her around it.
Emotionally, this character is quiet and sort of an outcast to the group, she is awkward and her only true emotion is love towards Liam. She is a character that the audience can emotionally attach to and feel bad for, both for how she is treated and how she acts - the way she is closed off from everyone else. I believe that i conveyed this well due to little things i did throughout - such as physically moving closer to Liam and doing everything for him (picking up files, grabbing props, etc.) whilst getting shouted at in return, keeping her eyeline down and barely acknowledging the others, whereas the others insult her and bring her down. It is through everything she physically does whilst being quiet and vulnerable, it allowed the audience to feel for her as she gets treated badly.
Vocally, i believe i could've improved on a bit. When rewatching and reflecting, my pronunciation and diction was something i believe i did really well, as everything was clear. However, in other aspects such as emotion in the voice and pacing, i could've improved on, as throughout i kept a similar pace and tone with my voice - in some perspectives i could say this was due to the awkward character choices, however i believe there are certain parts where it could've been switched up - such as a bit more defensive or harsher when being spoken to by people other than Liam.
Physically, i enjoyed what i did with Cindy. I kept her quite closed off, clutching to her props or using hand gestures such as twiddling thumbs to show her awkward character and her lack of power in the space. I made sure to ensure she didn't take up too much space in the room when you could see the whole set and kept her head down. An improvement for movement and physicality i would say if i did it again i would open her body language a bit more when she is sat with Liam, as this would show her love and trust towards him no matter how he treats her - being closed off to others but open to him would develop her character further and give more of a story (why isn't she afraid of him? how come she can be so open with him when he is so rude to her? etc.)
As a whole, the group did an amazing job to ensure that the piece looked and felt real. The character interactions went really well - especially between Cindy and Liam. Through rehearsal we spent a lot of time thinking about little details to show the relationship between the two which paid off in the final result - a main part being when Cindy moves closer to Liam and he moves away. It showed the realism of it. An improvement for myself personally with ensemble would be to establish the connections that Cindy had with the others a bit better, as i felt like i could've gave them more of a story - this would have improved the reactions to when the others (such as Lacy and Amy) spoke to her in a rude way. As a whole however, i believe everyone's active listening was incredible, facially and physically reacting to what was happening in the group scenes. A small improvement i would say for the group scenes however, is acknowledging the people next to us, not just the main thing happening - for example the end scene where we discover it was Amy - we could've exchanged a few more glances between us.
Overall, the feature film was challenging in lots of ways. Some personal goals to reach for any future screen work would be to work on a change in pace and tone throughout filming, not sticking to one rhythm throughout.
This entire production has improved me as an actor this year as last year i did little to no screenwork, therefore it allowed me to expand and flourish infront of a camera, learning the ins and outs and how it all works - the takes, angles, etc. It is important to know different types of the craft - being on set allowed me to do so.
National Theatre Connections
The connections project this year was called 'Normalised' and it targetted subjects such as family issues and homophobia. The goal of the performance was to make people understand how common homophobia is within our society and how it shouldn't be a normalised behaviour. My role was a character called Sam who was the school reporter. Her character was driven to get what she wanted no matter what, and helped push the story along by 'spreading the news' of the campaigns. She wanted to raise awareness. The intended impact overall of the play was to make the audience think about situations where homophobia is present how it isn't okay, and how things like this are still happening in our society. Another thing about my character Sam, is that she is gay, in a relationship by the end of the play with a character called Rosa. I think this has an impactful effect on the audience, as it shows the light and the love that can come from these relationships, and to be the positive, hopeful aspect of the play.
Emotionally, I think Sam is a strong character however shows vulnerability towards Rosa, as in some scenes we see Sam wanting to get information she needs for the radio - disregarding others feelings, however in other scenes she is just checking up on Rosa. I think this shows that she really likes this other character, going as far as to being in love with her. This can be conveyed through my body language towards her at the beginning and end - from awkward shuffling interactions with turned out body language to lying down on Rosa, holding her hand, etc. It can also be shown through the use of eye contact and facial expressions such as smiling at her throughout. If i were to improve on this relationship, i would work specifically on the scene where they start to understand they like each other when Sam asks Rosa on a date. This could play into a more vulnerable moment and teen awkward romance, through body language and vocal tone.
Vocally throughout i believe i could improve. A note i recieved was that i sometimes stop mid sentence or change the tone/pace in the wrong places. I believe this is something i need to go over for when we do the show again, as i know i can improve on it. However, i believe my volume in our home theatre was strong, however i know it will need a vast improvement for the space at Newcastle Theatre Royal.
I think my physical presence is something that i did well. I used the space to my full extent in the ensemble scenes, moving from people and coming forward to the front for my lines to make sure they're heard, and balancing the space around the rest of the ensemble and cast. I personally used my bag as a main prop for this play using it as something to rely and hold onto. This helped me physically, as i raised my shoulders and adjusted my posture to be proper through doing this.
Ensemble is a big part of connections and i believe it was strong! Active listening in the final scene especially went really well, we hit the emotional beats. The improvement for this however i believe we need to find the balance between talking on stage and being silent, as sometimes they are in at the wrong moments.
After the Newcastle Performance, i believe i hit all these points again. I worked on my character vocally and although i could've been louder, i improved upon the pacing and rhythm within the scenes. I believe this was a positive performance!
Overall Evaluation
Overall this year, I believe i have grew as an actor from last year in lots of different ways, each project targetting something new. From Ghostlight and Connections in particular, i believe this allowed me to explore and flourish in a romantic role, something i had never experienced before this year. This opens a new bracket for me as an actor, being able to have strong on stage chemistry with others is an important factor. The feature film allowed me to explore the difference between on stage and on screen acting, which are completely different vibes and feelings. This is something i didn't get to improve on last year, therefore im glad i got to experience it. As for the Christmas show, this allowed me to improve my confidence and ability in singing and taking on a larger role, allowing me to feel more connected to my characters and ready for what is thrown at me next. Each goal i set myself was met and it was great to cover different genres - naturalism, romance, character work - with side projects covering comedy and hard-hitting.
To set myself a goal for the next term, i would love to put everything i have worked on into play. My target would be to improve on my voice, as throughout i have noticed that has been an issue for me - whether it be through a rhythm in how i speak or generally needing better volume.
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