Evaluation of the process:

The rehearsal process definitely had its high and low moments. The initial blocking process was simple and meant that we were able to block out the full script quickly, which meant we would have more time to run-through scenes. However once everyone was off-script we had to re-block the majority of the script because people were forgetting where they had been placed in scenes and so it made it difficult to run through complete scenes. This issue was made worse by mains not knowing their lines. I was not a main and so didn’t have to worry about learning lines and those of us who were in the chorus would spend a fair bit of time sitting in the wings while the mains would run over a series of lines several times because they had made a mistake. These issues put us behind slightly and so we had to fit a lot of rehearsals into a small amount of time.

Timing and organisation wasn’t our only issue. As a company we spent our first month of rehearsals doing everything with very little or no energy. There was little reaction from the chorus and everything was flat. Very early on I began to make my reactions and movements bigger and would receive positive feedback for it, however there were others in the chorus who it took longer to get themselves into it. Being over-the-top is not a naturalistic form of acting and so some people felt self-conscious about over emphasising everything. However despite the late start we did reach a point where everyone had found the right amount of over-exaggeration needed for pantomime.

The process of creating and learning the dances was a much more straightforward process. My previous dance experience meant that I was quite capable in learning the various dance numbers for the pantomime and I was then able to help those who were less confident as dancers. The dances were an area where everyone put 100% into it and this could be seen in the performances. Extra dance rehearsals were constantly being organised amongst the chorus members to practise to ensure that everyone knew the dances and could get any extra help. I think the only weakness we came across in the dances was sustaining our energy throughout the choreography, as it would look awkward if our movement became less tonic the closer we got to the end of the song, but our extensive rehearsals allowed us to work on building up our stamina, which was useful as we had a nine show run to prepare for.

The singing rehearsals were where I felt least confident. Having song changes so close to the show was quite daunting at first and it added pressure to rehearsals. However I felt fully supported when dealing with any issues I had about the singing. As our final song changed to “You Can’t Stop the Beat” two weeks before the show it meant that there was a rush for people to learn lyrics and to learn the music as it is a tough song to sing, especially when doing an energetic dance routine at the same time. We worked through all the songs to help us become more confident with them and we were helped in finding the correct pitch as some songs were at an uncomfortable key to sing. I always found myself struggling with the key change at the end of “You Can’t Stop the Beat” and could feel the strain I was putting on my voice but we were given a rehearsal to practise a more comfortable way to sing the song without harming our voices. On the whole I felt comfortable with the songs and this was because there was a lot of support from those we were working with. I also found it helpful to run through songs with my peers whenever I was uncertain about something.

The weaknesses that appeared during the rehearsal process was the little effort that would get put in by people, but when we were all working to the best of our abilities and were giving it our all our rehearsals were always promising. We started off slowly but once we found our rhythm we were able to work consistently at a high level of performance.    

The Opening Dance

The Finale