Evaluation

Research phase
The first time we read through Replica, the character of Mika stood out to me. I found the way that
she behaved in the play very interesting and knew that I wanted to research into the potential reasons
why she may act this way. I found her characteristics differed a lot from other characters so I wanted
to do research that could help me fully understand the character’s background and social differences
from the other characters. I researched a lot into the Punk movement, as we had decided that the way
Mika behaves could potentially be because she is punk. I found this research very beneficial as it
helped me to fully develop the character and gain a greater understanding of why she would say
certain lines, and the true meaning behind them. I also found that it helped me because I learnt a lot
about the history of punk and the movement itself, which inevitably helped me when developing the
character, and being able to portray a more believable version of Mika.
I also researched into different themes of the play, as some of the play and its events are tricky to
follow at times, so it was important to me from the beginning that I had a deep understanding of
everything that was going on at all times, both from my character’s perspective and objectively too.
One particular theme I researched into was bullying, as this is the most prominent theme of the play. I
wanted to not only understand how it would feel to be bullied and the impact this would have on
someone, but I also wanted to understand why someone may be a bystander and not actually do
anything to help, as this is exactly what my character does in the play. This was something that going
into the play I didn’t fully understand, so this was vital that I developed an understanding in this area.
I looked into different examples of why someone may be a bystander, and different consequences of
getting involved, both positively and negatively with bullying. I found this difficult at times because
there is a lot of grey area surrounding bystanders of bullying, as there isn’t necessarily the easy/right
thing to do as every case is totally different.
Another thing I researched into was directing, as assistant director was my production role for
Replica. This was very important research for me because I wanted to make sure that I’d be going into
this role with as much knowledge and confidence as possible. I watched videos of different directors
explaining their job role and the importance of different skills they need. I also researched into the
important attributes required for a successful director/assistant director, as I knew that this would give
me a broader knowledge of the role before beginning it. I found reading and listening to the
experience and advice of real directors more beneficial for me as I found I was much more interested
in real life experiences and found that I could relate this more to the scenes I would be working on
going forward.
Another part of the production that I wanted to research into was my character’s habits and behaviour.
Although some of this links to previous research I’d done about the Punk movement, there were
decisions we made later on in the process that I felt I needed to research into to fully develop the
character and play Mika authentically. One of these things was smoking. We decided that it could be
interesting if Mika smokes, as this rebellious behaviour that I’d began to characterise for Mika would
work very well with the idea that she smokes. I felt that in order to portray a genuine and believable
character who smokes, I needed to research into why people smoke, and the small habits and subtle
movements that help show that someone is a regular smoker. Firstly, I watched plenty of videos and
clips from movies and tv shows that have characters in it who smoke and studied their mannerisms
and movements. I found that this helped massively because these people would have also made a
deliberate effort to make this look as realistic as possible, therefore this was a very effective way for
me to learn this. I also read and researched into why people smoke, not just because of the addiction
but more the social side of it. I found this very interesting and beneficial for my performance because
this is much more likely to be the case with Mika as she is a young person, therefore is more likely to
smoke at this point in her life because of the social aspect of it, not because of being addicted. I also
felt like this tied in with the themes of play, such as social status and popularity.
I found the research phase of this production very beneficial for me as I felt I was able to gain a deep
understand of all of the themes of the play, as well as understanding as much as possible about my
character. I think the most challenging part of this is the fact that it is an entirely new play, therefore
there is no research that can be done in terms of previous productions and other versions of the
character you’re playing. On the other hand, I think that this is also a huge positive because it means
there is so much freedom when building a character as it can be entirely your own interpretation,
therefore you can apply research that seems appropriate to the choices you’ve made.

Rehearsal / development phase

The rehearsal and development phase was exciting from the beginning of the production right up until
the show. From the start we found ways to keep rehearsals engaging and productive, as well as
consistently rehearsing our scenes so that they were the best they could be ready for the performance.
Once we’d been given the go ahead to put on Replica as part of the connections festival and we’d all
been cast, we started doing line runs of our scenes stood up. At first this seemed a little strange as we
had no staging, or sense of where we were going to be standing or anything like that, but very quickly
we realised how beneficial this was for us. I think that doing this massively helped develop our
characters without us even noticing it, as subconsciously we would make decisions on how our
character would walk, how they’d stand, how they’d use their hands to gesture etc. I think that this
also taught us a lot about creativity and how to be more imaginative when it comes to creating a show.
What’s really special about the National Theatre Connections project is that so many of the creative
decisions are left up to the company, therefore even if the script states a location, it’s normally brief
and easy to interpret how you’d like to. I think that that’s why rehearsing in this way early on was
super beneficial for us and the way we created the show as naturally these settings and locations
would develop just from the way we stood or sat. I think that this also simplifies roles such as set
design as there isn’t so much dependency on making the set look quite so naturalistic. I think that this
certainly taught us a lot about the power of presenting setting just through performance. This also
came with some challenges too, as we needed to make sure that we were not making the scenes too
static and that we were keeping it unique and engaging. This forced us to think more creatively about
the decisions we were making in rehearsal, which inevitably made the final performance more special.

As the rehearsal process progressed, we experimented with many different rehearsal techniques that
helped us to learn so much about our character, and also find new and interesting ways of saying lines
and portraying our character in certain scenes. An example of this is holding your hands up against
your scene partner’s, and when you think that your character is being dominant in a scene you push
them backwards, and the same goes for when it’s the other way around. This is a great technique to
help understand character dynamic in a scene and really learn about your character’s power and
motives. Using methods like this in the rehearsal phase was incredibly beneficial for us as it
encouraged us to think outside of the box and approach aspects of the play in completely new ways. It
also stopped us from being complacent and not pushing the scene any further. I think that this was
massively important because a challenge we faced at times was trying to make sure we’re constantly
adapting the scenes we’re in. Because of the nature of the play, I felt that there were quite a few
scenes that only had a few people on stage, therefore sometimes rehearsing this can become a bit
repetitive once you’ve reached a stage where you’re happy and comfortable with the scene. Therefore,
these types of rehearsal techniques are so important to ensure that this doesn’t happen, and that you’re
adapting and improving a scene right up until the last few weeks of a production.

During the final few weeks of the rehearsal phase, we had got the scenes to a point where we were
very happy with them, using a variety of techniques and rehearsal methods throughout the process.
This final phase of rehearsal was a case of making sure that we knew these lines and the scenes inside
out. This is so important because not only does it ensure that you can give the best performance
possible during the show, but it also makes you as prepared as possible if any mistakes happen on
stage. I feel this is so important because it’s vital that as a performer I can adapt quickly and carry on
with a scene as smoothy as possible if any slip ups do happen, and in order to do this it’s important to
know my lines well enough to be able to continue from any part of the scene. To achieve this, we
rehearsed the play continuously from beginning to end every day, sometimes twice a day. Doing this
helped us know the play off by heart, but also gave us the opportunity to efficiently practice
transitions and moving the set on and off stage in between scenes. I really enjoyed the rehearsal and
development process of this play as we were always helping each other find out new things about the
play, as well as constantly evolving our characters and scenes to make them the best they could be. I
learnt a lot of valuable skills in this phase of the production. One that I think is particularly important
was learning to combine creative ideas, and how beneficial this can be for a production. I found that
this showed the most when I was doing my production role, assistant directing. I think that it’s so
important in this position to be able to combine your own ideas with other people’s as it makes the
show even more unique and adds much more depth, as it’s the combination of multiple people’s
creative ideas. I think that the biggest challenge for us in this phase was finding efficient ways to
rehearse even when there were absences in the class. Lots of the group scenes in the play involve the
large majority of the cast, so when people were off it made it significantly harder to do this. However,
it taught us different ways to adapt and overcome problems like this and find ways to still use
rehearsal time effectively.

Production week / performance

As we were fortunate to have two performances of the play (one at college and an away performance
at Theatre Royal Plymouth) the performances were spread over two show weeks. During the first
show week, we made sure that before preparing for the show in terms of our performances, we were
prepared with everything backstage and technically. This included lighting, sounds, props, costume
and set. This was extremely important because in order for a show to run smoothly and efficiently, all
of these things need to be carefully thought out and organised ahead of the performance. We started
practicing all of these habits at the beginning of show weeks; things like re-setting the props table
after every run through become something that we did without even thinking about it. We did several
speed-through tech runs just to make sure that all of the lighting and sound queues were correct, and
all programmed ahead of the show on the Wednesday. This process before the performance taught me
a lot about the skills required to be in this industry. It teaches you a lot about all aspects of putting on
a show, which is what is so beneficial about this course. I developed skills in knowing about sound,
and how music can affect a scene or lift transitions from being just a set change to actually being part
of the show. It also taught me a lot about organisation, as it’s vital when working in a larger ensemble
that each person has taken care of everything that they need to do, as it makes it much easier for
everybody else. I think that this skill is so important because it’s applicable to any area of the industry
that I could potentially be working in in the future. This element of the show week went very well, I
think that everybody was organised, which reduced the stress of show week massively, and made us
as prepared as possible for the show. Something I found challenging in show week was the time
management element of it. It’s a very full-on week, which is great because that’s exactly what you’d
want in a show week, however at times I found it challenging to balance the coursework side of it and
the performance side, as both parts had become the most important at this point. However this taught
me a lot about time management, another transferable skill that will benefit me in anything I do after
college. By this point before the show, I was very confident with my lines so this thankfully wasn’t
something I was worried about leading up to the show, so my main focus in the last few rehearsals
before the show was making sure that I knew the staging of every scene as well as I could, so that I
wasn’t even needing to think about my movements on stage, meaning that my performance looked as
natural as possible.

On the day of the show we had two performances, one in the morning to people in the College, the A-
level Drama class and staff from the Theatre Royal Plymouth who had come to watch the show ahead
of our away performance there. This was beneficial for us because it was a smaller audience to the
one that we’d be performing to in the evening, but still an audience so that we could get in the
headspace of doing a performance. The morning run through went well overall, however there were a
few small things that went wrong in my individual performance that I wasn’t happy about, and that I
needed to work on before the evening show. During this I learnt the benefits of doing multiple shows,
as it gives you time to fix any errors and make improvements. We did one or two low energy run
throughs, and then had a break before the evening show. I found that I developed skills in managing
nerves, as this is a vital part about being a performer. I find that nerves is a problem that I struggle
with quite a lot, and sometimes I find it challenging to work out good ways to deal with it. However,
for this performance I felt like I managed this a lot better than I had done in previous performances. I
made sure that I kept myself occupied as I know that for me that’s the best way to keep nerves under
control. I leant the importance of eating and drinking the right stuff throughout the day and making
sure to get outside for a while too. This all helped me overcome something that is quite a bit challenge
for me on days like this one.

We then did our performance to an audience who had paid to come and watch. This is always
extremely rewarding as you get to do something you love in front of people who have come to watch
you do that exact thing. I think that the performance went incredibly well. I was so happy both with
the performance as a whole, and with my individual performance. I felt I had fixed all of the mistakes
from the morning show, which I was very pleased about as this was one of my main concerns for the
show. From this show I think that I developed my skills in projection and body language as a big part
of my character was having quite an angry and rude stage presence, therefore it was important that I
did this to make my performance as best as possible. I still think that there was room for improvement
before the Plymouth show, which is great because it means I can make my performance better and
have something to work on leading up to it.

A couple of weeks later we travelled to Plymouth to put on our away performance of Replica in the
Drum theatre. This was an extremely exciting day as it was our first time as a class performing outside
of the college, and getting to put on a show in a theatre like this one was incredibly cool, and we were
very lucky to get to do this. One problem that we faced straight away was that we weren’t able to take
all of our staging from the college to the theatre due to transport issues, so we had a different stage
layout to the one we’d been rehearsing on from the beginning. This worried us all I think as lots of the
setting and location is created based on the visuals created by the stage, and the way that we use levels
to convey these different settings of the play. However, we overcame this problem by building the set
as similar as we possibly could do the set we had before, and when we did the tech run with the
technicians at the Drum, we made any adjustments to our scenes setting-wise that we needed to, so
that when it came to doing the dress rehearsal shortly after, we had much more of ay idea of what we
were doing. This taught us a lot about overcoming problems quickly and finding efficient solutions to
adapt to a new situation and carry on. Despite being worried about this initially, I think that having a
change of set actually massively benefitted the performance; I definitely found that it benefitted mine.
I think that this happening forced us to really think deeply about our scenes again and think about
where our characters would sit/stand now the staging has been moved. Because we knew the
characters so well by this point, we were able to do this quickly, sometimes subconsciously. For
example, in my first scene the staging had moved so that I could no longer sit down where I did.
Instead, I felt it was appropriate for my character to lean against the back wall smoking. After
watching it back I feel like this looks so much better, and really adds a lot to the character. The dress
rehearsal following on from this went really well, and I think the excitement of performing in a new
venue immediately raised everyone’s performances. We then had a day of workshops and vocal
warm-ups before the performance in the evening.

Our final performance of Replica went incredibly well. I was so happy with how everything went, I
think that it was a massive improvement on the college performance, as the show as a whole just felt
lifted and much smoother. I found that I learnt a lot that day about adapting to new changes and using
this to my advantage. I felt (and received feedback) that all of us were doing things in the performance
that we’d never done before. I noticed this in every scene I was in, both from myself and from other
people. I think that because of this, everybody’s performances were more exciting and more authentic
as we were bouncing off of each other’s performances too. I found that in my own performance I
changed the way I said some of my lines and some of the ways I moved around and gestured to
people on stage with me. I also felt that in mine and Kelsi’s final scene where the characters are a little
bit emotional, this was very authentic, and the emotions were really there from both of us. The
moment of romance in the scene where I hold her hand and she puts her hand on my face felt much
more real, and I think we held that moment a lot longer, purely because we realised this would be the
last time we do this, and I think in this moment because of the energy in the whole show, our
characters had really built up to this moment. I was so happy with how both performances went, and
the show was a great one to work on. I learnt a lot about efficient ways to bring ideas to life on stage,
both in my performance and in my production role. I developed skills that help towards creating a
character from scratch, and the important elements to make your portrayal of a character seem
believable and enjoyable to watch on stage. And finally, I learnt a lot about the importance of working
tightly as an ensemble, and how this makes everything not only much easier and the show more
professional, but also much more enjoyable to be a part of.