WEEK ONE

21/03/2022

In this rehearsal, we discussed the 'Action Plan' of what our rehearsals will be dedicated to and when we will have our Tech sessions. After we sorted this out, we moved on to what we have blocked altogether and decided to do a relaxed run-through of the play. For the most part, the run-through did not involve any amendments from the Director or suggestions be made until one scene that was newly blocked came up. As a result, it can be said that the run-through was initially quite patchy. Reflecting on our behaviour as a cast, I think this rehearsal was drastically different to other rehearsals as there wasn't background noise made by distracted performers offstage. Since the environment consisted of performers being on stage or working quietly on stage it allowed us to easily go through the scenes. On one hand, when I was on stage, I made sure to stay focused on what was happening and being said so that I could understand where my cues are and be invested in the scene. On the other hand, when I was not on stage in the scene, I could see that each scene was becoming clearer in regards to what the end product would look like which was reassuring. Despite this, a collective issue that I noticed presently in this rehearsal was that even though characters are slowly becoming dynamic, everyone's performance was hindered because we did not know our lines. Moreover, another observation that I realised was that we weren't being attentive to our proxemics, as there were many moments where the action on stage was closed off because they weren't thinking of balancing the space or moving around.

As for the problems that arose, even though we occasionally messed up lines, we aided each other by feeding each other our lines or being patient when they were finding them. I also helped my peers by reading in the lines when other performers were not in today so that we could continue with the rehearsal and support those on stage that didn't have their scene partners. As for my experience, even with the fast pace that we used to go through the scenes, we were not able to reach Scene 19 and thus unable to say my lines or get any specific notes for myself, however, I know that the impact of not knowing my lines would have affected my confidence whilst performing (even if I pushed myself to commit to the choices that I've thought about).

Once our time had run out, we came together to hear the notes from our Director. Since some of my peers received individual notes, I took note of what was said generally and what I think could have applied to me if I was doing Scene 19. The notes are as described below:

• If we wanted to effectively create a war-tone atmosphere, we need to incorporate a sense of urgency in ourselves for it to be clear.

• The dialogue between characters in some moments needs to pick up the pace so that the audience can understand what is going on.

• We all need to be wary of proxemics and be brave enough to address different areas of the audience and share the scene with them, not be self-indulgent in our scene.

• Upon seeing it, the Director suggested that Scenes 2 and 3 will be carousel-led, so when one scene goes off, another scene will come on.

• Reflecting back on the dance break, the last section of the 'Candy' needs variation after '-5,6,7,8' so that it doesn't look repetitive.

• As a reiteration of what has been said before, we all need to be more committed to our character choices on stage and talk slower.

Although we only did a Run-Through, I realised that I need to learn my lines as soon as possible so that I can easily start applying my character research to them.

22/03/2022

After completing our warm-up, (which was focused on getting us physically ready for the rehearsal), we attempted to work on Scene 19 for today's rehearsal. The aim of this rehearsal was to build on Scene 19 so that we can have an ending that is just as strong as the Opening Scene. I found this section of the rehearsal useful to me because I was able to fix details of the scene that weren't looked at before, for example, to make it accurate to our stage design, my entrance has changed from (USR) to (USL). Although I am happy that we were able to look at it briefly, just like in prior rehearsals, I found it disheartening how the cast does not respect each other by talking over those trying to work on the scene or distracting those that are on stage. And if that wasn't enough of a dilemma, as we worked on this scene, we had to stop halfway through because too many performers were missing from the scene, so it made it difficult for the Director to give notes to us or figure out where everyone is supposed to be on stage.

To utilise that time that was now free for other scenes, those in Scene 6 worked with the Director while those who remained were tasked with creating a solution regarding the last part of the Jive number. One of the choreographers decided that we should reuse the Jive Basic, but this time we would have our hands on each other's shoulders in our rows so that we move in unison. My role in this rehearsal was to support my peers in devising more dance moves for the Jive so that it can feel up the remainder of the song that hasn't been attended to.

I felt slightly unsure about the footwork for this move as it was too similar to what we had been doing before, but once I mentioned how similar the moves were, the choreographers were adamant about changing it at all. Since the task at hand was about creating more work, I thought it would be best not to knock down their ideas and think of what to add to the dance. So, I then showed them the move that the Director does every time we mention the Jive and suggested to them to include it in the dance to show variety in the dance. My offer was to include sidekicks that would open up the staging so that we can see Dr. Reeves and June dancing and have their moment together. Although we have the last step I included, I'm still unsure of the dance because the majority of us that were working on it were just distracted for the entirety of the time, so the quality of the work may not be up to par with what the Director.

Once the Director had finished with Scene 6, we were called back into the room to show what we had created for the Jive number. After we explained what the purpose of the moves was and the topology(?), we then performed the dance for our Director. I noticed that once we tried to do the dance with the counts of the music's speed, many of us struggled to get the right footwork or move together at the right time. Long moments passed before his verdict of disliking the dance as the sidekicks were not working and the rows looked too similar to the 'Candy' - which was of no surprise to me. As the Director decided to cut the sidekicks and work with the rows instead, I realised that it was useful to push ideas when you are not vocal about them and share your opinion even if it is not accounted for. I think that if I did not speak up about my reservations about what we had created before, the experience of the Director giving us feedback similar to what I had made before would have made me more exasperated than I needed to be. Additionally, I am also learning not to get too attached to my ideas as things are bound to change throughout rehearsals, and the first draft of a moment is liable to many versions of it being made as we continue on with our rehearsals. Thus, we continued to work on the dance move around using rows and I decided to help those that were having difficulty with the steps so that we could perform cohesively.

• Set yourself targets – what do you want to achieve in each rehearsal? What might you need to do between rehearsals to prepare? What has your director asked of you?

23/03/2022

The aim of this rehearsal was centered around embedding the dance that we have into the play and in between the specific scene that it occurs. I think this rehearsal was crucial because it made it clear to all of us that the hours of work we have used for the dance were worth it and that it does have intention. I think this rehearsal was successful because we were able to complete the whole dance and decide how the scene transitions into the dance smoothly. To start with, we began with a warmup that consisted of us running through the dance with the newly added bits. Since the rehearsals revolving around the dance are so demanding, we did not try to fix the end of the dance that includes Dr. Reeves and June's duet until later.

I think that the group was able to do better in this rehearsal because we have the entirety of the dance and a few more people were starting to see the importance of acing this dance so that we can move on to working on the following scenes. Despite this, it was quite tedious how long we have to work on specific parts of the routine repetitively because most of the time my peers are not focused, rather than it being the case of them not knowing the steps. I'm quite proud of myself in this rehearsal because I have really pushed myself to be more patient with my peers when there is a lack of attention and have been working on performing the dance rather than just remembering the steps. Also, I think this rehearsal made me realise the differences between my characters as the WAAF Operator and the Nurse, which I haven't had the opportunity to work on yet. I think I could still improve more on heightening the excitement in my character and being more precise with the movements.

After working on the concrete parts of the dance that we know and finishing our sequence of the 'Candy', we accomplished fitting the dance rows after and using the space left for the due to happen. The Director and a couple of us realised that the rows needed more to happen so that the duet would be clearer to see as it looked (and felt) messy, so I suggested that we should go on our knees in our rows and sway so that the levels of the ensemble could resolve it. I also offered that we could include some shoulder bopping in unison for those of us on the floor to keep our movements controlled and draw the audience's attention to Dr. Reeves and June. Since we found that there was still quite a lot of music left unchoreographed and that it has proven too difficult to choreograph new work now, we reused certain steps and minimise them to be done in pairs. This section includes us repeating the Hand Jive sequence that we did before, then we move back into the space with our previous partners and do the 'Candy', which is then followed by the 'Mam' (our own variation of the Mooch). An issue that we had to deal with was the lack of focus from the cast, so it took us a very long time to get the dance properly prepared. Furthermore, once we had performed the dance multiple times, our Director gave us feedback on how we should all work on adding personality to the dance because we know the steps but it shouldn't look like we are trying to remember how to dance correctly. I think this note is very important to me because I have found working on the dance from last easy to do, however, I'm aware that I have focused more on getting the choreography right rather than adding my own flare to it as an actor. Lastly, we ran the whole dance a couple more times and worked on transitioning from there until the end of the scene.

In this process, my role consisted of performing the dance to the best of my abilities so that the DIrector can see what the dance looks like and for me to present when changes or additions are being made. Occasionally, when disruption occurs because of little differences in the dance, I would suggest small steps to improve the dance to look smoother and more complex.

I don't think much was left unachieved in this rehearsal as we were able to do multiple runs of the dance with the music and without it. As shown below, we were able to record the full dance from the moment we serenade Sergeant Bellamy with 'Dream a Little Dream'.

I think my goal for this dance will be to continue working on not being shy while performing so that when I enjoy it, the audience can enjoy it too.