Unit 9- Burn Evaluation

Evaluation Unit 9

At the end of unit 8 we as a class were given the choice to pick what play we wanted to do for the final unit. One student suggested that we do the play that I did for my GCSE in secondary school but there was no script for the play plus as we were a large group there were not enough character in it. Rob our tutor provided us with a script from a script box so he helped us to make a final decision for unit 9 for the production of Burn.  
At beginning of unit 9 for Burn I personally felt it was a very hard production due to the length of the script and was shocked by how it ended however I was pleased to have been given the role of Rachel as I felt I could relate to the character more that the character of the social worker.    

My first reaction of Rachel my character was that she was a very sweet and seemed nice but very protected of her boyfriend Colin. I had to play her with attitude because she is afraid Colin will leave her for the other girls and believed that Colin only wanted to be with her for sex when Rachel wanted an actual relationship. This meant she very insecure as well as very unsure whether to believe the rumour about Colin raping Linda at the end of scene 10 and she was spiteful to Birdman even though he sticks up for her even when he can see that deep down she knows what Colin did to Linda but still goes with him to make everything seem ok.

During rehearsals it was very chaotic as there were a lot of lines and the commitment from the other students was poor. They did not turn upon time ready to rehearse and there were conflicts throughout about following the script some were ahead of other and some where not paying attention. This crated an atmosphere that did affect rehearsals but I continued to learn my lines for my character Rachel and helped other student to learn there lines too. On rehearsal days leading up to the production it was important that everyone respected the behaviour backstage which didn't go to well as it was so noisy that at times I found it very difficult to concentrate as my hearing impairment relies on people being quite so I can here when its my time to come on stage which I found very distracting. 

For the duration of rehearsals, actors would be turn up late which resulted in some people not being prepared on the day not concentrating or being respectful of others trying to get the production finished. Brad and I had to work together as production managers, we were responsible for making sure that the production ran smoothly, set design and props were very good. Lighting was faded in and out to create the correct mood for the scene however there was poor communication between the costume department. Actors were given specific costumes to wear that would suit their character but then when actors came to rehearsals they chose to wear different costumes. This was not the only downside, the makeup that was requested was not ordered therefore the female cast were reliant on bringing makeup from home to ensure each member got into character.
  Despite all of the disruptions and failure to provide specific items, overall the 2 performances on the day went well. There were a couple of mistakes in actors forgetting their lines but the reaction from the audience which included laughter, cheering and lot of applause congratulating us on our performance was very pleasing to receive.