Jessica

WOW. that pretty much sums up my thoughs on top class.

I loved every minute of the performances. They have inspired me to do the best I can possibly do now, and push myself harder so I can be even better in yr 12. I loved the solos, they have so much depth and emotion in them. You can tell the amount of effort in them, and the thought put into every second of the performance.

I exceptionally loved the pirate character. I love the movie Pirates of the Caribbean so these solos automatically drew me in. They were hilarious, but also had so much content, that wavering your concentration for a second would be an enormous set back. This is the same with all the performances, but I loved them all the same. Some were so confusing that I gave up and looked more at the stage craft elements, and even the the performances were flawless. The focus of all the performers was insanely brilliant. No one lost focus, and remained in character without dropping a line (that I could see anyway). The tension in the dramatic performances like Dr Jykell and Mr Hyde were ecstatic. I loved every minute of them, I was so enthralled and drawn in.

Genelle was the high light of top class. I loved her performance and she has inspired me to do something special and individual in my yr 12 solo. I was a most inspiring day over all.

Tara: ‘The Mum’. Tara showed the struggles experienced by a mum in life in depth. She allowed us to see into her world. The use of signs added to the non-naturalistic convention required and pulled us in. It was a humorous performance.

Felicity: ‘The Hippy’.The use of sound was appropriate and the playing of the guitar was effective as well as the use of signs. The story line was easy to follow, and showed the everyday life of a hippy.

Adriana: ‘The Band Geek’. This solo was HILARIOUS. I loved the theme, and the instruments she used as her passion and desire. I think Adriana did an amazing job in reacting to the scence she was in. I loved the tension created between her mother and the character, showing a tough bond.

Laura: ‘The Street Urchin’. I was emotionally drawn in by this performance. I felt like I was really on the streets watching her move about with no home, helpless to stop her. The timing of Laura’s movements was perfect in creating tension.

Jacqui: ‘The New Mum’. HILARIOUS. Jacqui always manages to made the audience laugh easily. This performance created tension through silence, and the transformation of props was extremely smooth.

 Chloe: ‘The Nerd’. I liked her performance, as she had VERY smooth character transitions, but you were still able to tell that she transformed into another character. The costume also showed us that she was school based, but higher up.

The performances were impressive, but Mr. Cash told us that the marks ranged between a B and a C. This is good in a way because we will know our weaknesses and strive to do better and meet his standards.

STRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

This entire day I was completely stressed about my solo. I knew that I was prepared, but I was nervous about dropping a line, or falling on a prop or something to destroy my performance.

During our study in first period, Maddi, Jess, Leah and I all rehearsed our performances, and delivered them to each other. Watching some of the girls made me feel a fair bit intimidated because there scripts were so deep, and mine (being a teenybopper) was impossible to allow for depth. Never the less, I retained confidence and changed into costume at the start of the class.

Summary of performances:

Jess P: ‘The Wog’. Her performance was different to the comic type the class has come to expect from her. The solo showed that she is truly an amazing actress, because she was able to touch the audience with a dramatic interpretation of a wog. The tension between the father and daughter in the performance was well developed and drew the audience in. Her costume was perfect to illustrate her background.

Maddi: ‘The Nerd’. This solo personally I loved. You can relate to the emotions of her character, and also the dilemmas faced. Her use of space allowed us to follow the change of scenes and characters clearly and effectively. The nerd character draws the audience in making them feel sorry for the pain endured, and maddi showed this.

Nadia: ‘The Greaser’. Her performance was about the only one where the symbol was clear and not randomly added at the end of the solo. This performance was the right character for Nadia, as she worked towards her strengths, showing us the depth that she can go to in a solo script. I loved the costume; It was exactly was is needed to show a greaser in full flight.

Leah: ‘The Cheerleader’. Personally I could relate to this performance more than anyone else in the class as I am a cheerleader. Leah used my uniform and also my pom poms during her performance, which were perfect as she is a cheerleader. This solo showed the enviroment in which cheerleaders live in seemlessly and richly. Leah created the mood which typical cheerleaders live in well.

Jess M: ‘The Bum’. I found this solo hilarious. This is exactly what my dad is like, with the beer in one hand, and a footy in another. She used the props in her performance efficantly, interchanging some for symbolism. Her focus was steel like, as it would have been tough to act drunk and maintain the character.

Heather: ‘The Metal head’. Heather has complete focus of steel. You can tell this through the way she portrays the character like she has complete and total belief that she IS a metal head, and the story she is illustrating really happend to her. Her depth of script is like no one else in our class.

The standard of the performances was extremely high, but I was SO glad the my solo was complete, and now all I had to do was enjoy the others 

The holidays were a good break, but also a good time to stress over my solo. The first week was break time, even though i felt guilty for not developing my solo further, I needed a significant break. So in the second week I hit it hard and completed as much as I could within the first 3 days. This enabled me to perfect scenes and tweek ones I was not satisfied with.  

So the first day back.. WAS MEANT TO BE THE FIRST SOLO PERFORMANCE… including mine, luckily Mr. Cash decided that we could have the lesson to rehearse. This was the best thing for our solos. Leah, Heather, Maddi and I showed each other our solos, and gave feedback as to where we need to improve and change scenes in our performance. This I found, was the best thing for our solo’s as now we knew that our solo was on the right track. I was worried in the holidays that I could develop it incorrectly, or the script would be immature (which is what I felt throughout the entire holidays). Showing these girls put my worries to rest, and I was now confident that I could perform

Its taken me awhile these holidays to get into the mode of being able to do some productive work, but I am able to now.

The first practise was not too eventful, i rehearsed the first few scenes of my solo so i knew how much long it had to be to meet the criteria. The first timing was 2:46, so I continued to develop more of my solo, and decided that I was about half way.

 Moving in between scenes has been hard to perfect, but I think it is working well, I have changed into a different scene by moving across the space, and changing my mood/stance as I do so.

This is working well for me, and I now am almost completely finished.

hope everyone is enjoying there holidays. xx