Today, Liz began the lesson with our regular warm-up activity, "keepie uppies," where the class works together to keep a ball in the air, scoring a point with each touch. This exercise helps us prepare for rehearsals, and today we reached a high score of 33, a significant improvement over the past four weeks. The class was thrilled with our progress.
As it was our final rehearsal day before the performance at Ellesmere Port campus, we knew we had to work closely with Paige, who was still learning her lines. We ran through the entire performance once, challenging Paige to perform without her script. Despite some difficulties, we managed to complete most of it, thanks to our extra out-of-class rehearsals to help Paige catch up.
After the initial run-through, Liz wanted to watch the performance twice before Wednesday—first to check the music cues we have marked on the script. We set up the music and performed while Liz watched. There were a few minor adjustments needed, but overall it went smoothly. Our group felt confident and ready for the upcoming show.
Liz then suggested another run-through to identify potential improvements, focusing on adding points of unison or strengthening the performance. We were eager for this fresh perspective. During Beth's line about the weird girl at the window in the first extract, Liz suggested that everyone stop, point at Weird Girl, and whisper "that weird girl" before resuming their actions. This added a creepy, eerie effect, which worked well leading into the teddy bear scene.
Next, Liz paused us during the dream sequence where Luca and Beth talk about their dreams changing. She suggested the whole group join in saying "dream changes" and performing the head spin action. After practicing, we synchronized our movements, enhancing the scene's impact.
Liz also recommended that after Caitlin and Cameron wake suddenly and say their line in unison, the group should gasp to add shock and surprise. This simple addition deepened the scene’s intensity.
We then addressed the character transitions. Without lighting in the studio, our planned changes looked messy. Liz proposed having Beth take a picture of me, show it to him, and hand him the camera, transforming him into Cameron. We added a whispered "it snows," building up one person at a time to heighten the moment. This technique was applied to both Cameron changes.
For the Caitlin transition, we devised a sequence where Luca and Paige touch hands, remove the jacket from each other, and put it on the other person, accompanied by the "it snows" whisper. This created a visually striking and eerie effect. We decided to use this method for both Caitlin changes. With about 40 minutes left, Liz left us to rehearse these new elements. We ran the performance four times, ensuring everything was in place for Wednesday