Unit 3: Romey & J (Blog 6)

ROUGH DRAFT - 

No, I did not prepare sufficiently for the rough draft performance because I did not have my lines memorized and the staging was very scattered and people did not know their exits and the attitude from the characters were missing because there was no fluidity and I wasn't able to appropriately play my character appropriately.

There were elements in the our performance that was absolutely horrible and needed lots of work. First of all we needed to work on memorizing all our line especially my lines because I needed the script the whole time and that held me back from portraying the role of Sampson's smart aleck/sarcastic role in the scene. We needed for the thumb-biting to be more confident and look more offensive, and Irti wasn't able to pull it off so if we weren't able to do it properly we were advised to cut that out. Irti also needed a sash/crown/cape that signified him as the prince in the end he also needs more authority. Irti also had to work on making the maidenheads and the female being the weaker vessels part work with the joke and I had to deliver my lines more aggressively and push him off and he had to be aggressive about pushing me to the wall.  The questions between Abrahm (Sarang) and Sampson (Irti) need to be more sarcastic and Tybalt (Willie) needed to be more bitter and the stage combat hand to more 'staged' because it sounded like they were breaking the wooden swords. And most of all me and Irti a.k.a. Gregory (me) and Sampson needed more actions and not give our backs to the audience. We need to fix the attitude so that the emotion and circumstance of the scene is understood. I think the audience wouldn't have been able to understand because we needed the extra attitude and emotion with lots of 'testosterone' induced sarcasm  for enmity in the scene for the audience to understand what we were trying to get across.

To improve our performance for the final draft we improved our staging and communicated with each other about who was standing where. and we also put in that I exit when the combatting starts and come back on to do my part for citizens and then exit again. We also researched our parts in the No Fear sparknotes and added the appropriate emotion and attitude so the audience understood and Irti did his thumb bite more aggressively while I delivered my lines with sarcasm and aggression towards Irti, we carried out our part like a conversation. Willie was more aggressive and bitter with Tybalt and Sarang worked on his character and made it more snarkier. And the most redeeming part was that we all memorized our line except for some mishaps and Irti needing ques. 

FINAL DRAFT- 

Yes, the final draft was much better than the rough draft because we memorized our lines and we also went over the No Fear script so that we knew what emotion we had to get across to the audience with a much better understanding. We also improved all aspects that made the audience waiting like lack of action and gestures in the beginning and the portrayal of the level of testosterone.

First of all we memorized all our lines and then we went back to the No Fear script to find out the meaning of our lines in modern english so we knew what emotion to get across for the audience to understand and set a mood for the scene and improvise on our attitudes of our characters. We also used more action in the opening bit with a bit more sarcasm and aggression and improved on the maidenheads bit which had to said with pride and also he thumb-biting bit, Irti finally figured out who to bite his thumb at and how to do it more offensively. Willie, Sarang and Irti made the quarreling bit flow more fluidly because we all learned our lines and then they improved their combatting and Irti learned his lines for the Prince and was able to deliver them with authority. We also improved our staging the mos because we finally advised each other and discussed my exit and the entrance and we remembered to not give our backs to the audience.

Since we all understood our lines better in the Final draft performance we were able to improvise our attitudes and emotions in delivering the lines so the audience would understand better. We didn't really have a audience except for Ms. Kimi but I think that if we did than the audience would've been able to grasp the intention of the dialogues. I think that we were able to portray the circumstance of the scene much better than the first time that we attempted to but it still needs improvement. We were able to portray elements of the scene very good and we still need a lot of work on other scenes.

FINAL REFLECTION: 

After attempting to perform a scene from R&J, I've come to realization that actors in the Shakespearean theatre had lines in a different style of language which had to portrayed with emotion in order for the audience to get the gist of the scene and the mood of the scene. I also learned that if scenes from R&J don't flow properly they lose the quality or the 'magic' of the entire concept, so the character personalities were different as well. The actors that performed these plays must've had a hard time learning the lines and emotions had to portrayed perfectly, which actors nowadays have it easier on them because they don't have to perfect the emotion behind the lines for the audience to understand.

I learned that I have to memorize all my lines and most of all understand all my lines so that I know what emotions to deliver with the lines for the audience to understand and I always have to in action on stage or show some expressions so that I don't seem boring and the scene flows on fluidly. I also have to do more rehearsals when I'm doing difficult performances like R&J and anything else that I might find difficult. I also have to remember to stand diagonal so the audience see me from every angle and I'm not giving my back to the audience unintentionally.