Performance Log

11/9/16

• 2 groups went and performed today
• Advice they received
• Make actions clearer
• Enunciate more, articulate your words, don’t have them slur or blend together. Don’t mumble, but don’t overdo it either.
• Motions help show actions, make them more prominent
• Don’t just throw out lines, deliver them with meaning
• TALK SLOW
• Address your group partners because you’re having an actual conversation with them, but not as group partners, as characters from the play.
• Get committed to the part, use physical contact, think and move realistically, speak with conviction
• Don’t be afraid to touch other people. If Friar Lawrence thinks Romeo needs a pat on the shoulder, the Friar Lawrence is going to give him that pat.

11/10/16

• Stay in character, don’t fidget/stutter
• Enunciate more
• Staying in character isn’t just about facial expressions and speaking, it’s about your entire body.
• Know your lines
• You’re not Kathleen, you’re Friar Lawrence.
• Face the audience, don’t ever have your back completely turned to them
• Accommodate/mime flowers and a basket with your actions.
• Stop breaking character
• Work on vocalizing lines with rhymes and patterns, make them flow instead of just throwing them out.
• Reciting lines blankly is not staying in character
• Talk slower
• Stand to greet Romeo before you jump up and yell “GOD PARDON SIN!”, it will make it much less startling/surprising/disorienting to the audience
• Stuff to memorize
• The middle of some monologues
• The entire last one
• Work on visuals/facial expressions, don’t give poker faces the entire time
• Write physical/emotional reactions to your partner’s lines in your scripts to help with this
• Fidgeting makes you look less like the sagely Friar Lawrence and more like “actor in training who doesn’t really know what to say or do.”
• Be aware of each other’s presence on stage and make sure you’re not blocking the audience’s view of each other
• Don’t overplay emotions, make them realistic and not overdone or non-existent.
• Make it clearer to your identity and where you are, especially in the beginning of the scene. Avoid unnecessary confusion.

Misc. Notes:

• Overdoing emotions and expressions extends to miming props as well. Don’t make it look overdone or exaggerated because that reduces the realism.
• Don’t focus too much on the lines because that’ll reduce your actions and make you look less in character
• Missing a few lines *should* be a little bit okay so as long as it’s not too much or very important/relevant to the script/play.