REFLECTION AND DEMONSTRATION STAGE: Now that the musical showcase is over, I can’t help but realise how much I’ve grown not just as a performer, but as an individual. I remember being quite hesitant to participate in this production because of my lack of acting skills and experience with musical theatre. But coming out of it, I now understand that a majority of this whole experience has been solely learning and exploring a new dimension of music and art that I previously had been unaware of. My appreciation of musical theatre and acting has dramatically increased due to this experience, and I’m grateful that I got to be a part of it despite the many challenges our school productions faced because of COVID. The idea of doing scenes from 4 different plays was implemented due to COVID in the first place, which both the music department and students brought to reality. This exhibits the commitment and perseverance that brought us to this point, instead of giving up and cancelling the production(LO4). The skills I’ve developed throughout this learning journey have allowed me to become more confident and expressive in my artistic abilities as a performer, and even as an individual singer, as I have a better idea of how I can control stage presence during performances (LO2). Lastly, this process has definitely taught me about the experience planning process. Experiences like these help me understand the individual steps that are involved in the planning of a CAS experience. I’ve learnt the gradual nature of progress and the important of patience, especially during a time where things stray away from the original plan/idea (LO3)

ACTION STAGE : I noticed that in this production, there is a large devising component that us students are responsible for. The teacher, Ms.Stirrat, gives us the space to create our own scenes where there is no plot in particular, just an introduction or a scene that includes no singing or dialogue. Initially, this was a challenge for me, since my ability to devise using dramatic/theatrical technique was at a novice level, and I didn’t have the skills that other IGCSE or IB drama students may have had. But during the second week, I realised that I was able to contribute ideas that were either useful or not useful, and my learning would develop as a result. If my ideas were inadequate in some form, I was able to collaborate with other students who either have better/equal theatre knowledge to improve on ideas. This was a significant aspect that taught me how collaboration in such a production is definitely effective. This system of adding on to other ideas allowed for not just an inclusive, non-competitive, environment, but it developed my skills and abilities since I was surrounded by people who had theatre skills. (LO5)

At this point of the production, things are really starting to come together with all the ideas and plans we devised in the earlier stages of this musical. We’ve also begun wearing our all black costume, on top of which we will layer props and costumes that are specific to the play/character we’re performing. The black structure that the band will play from is now finished and we can start to work around that. I’ve noticed that in our rehearsals, we are standing up and implementing ideas rather than discussing them like we have in previous weeks. This is really really refreshing for me, because I’m beginning to see how the suggestions I, along with my other peers, come to life on stage when planned properly.

Of course, there are some challenges when we start executing plans for the first time. The main one was complying with social distancing. Because we are having a live audience, it’s crucial that we maintain an appropriate distance with one another. While keeping this in mind, in musical theatre, it’s important to keep moving around during singing or acting bits to keep the audience engaged and avoid a static scene on stage. So both of these factors often clash and cause all of us to revaluate our choreography and alter it to abide by distancing rules. One way we have overcome this challenge is by choreographing dance numbers first, before running lines. This allows us to firstly, plan out moves according to distance between dancers, secondly, prepare how to get to our initial positions safely, and thirdly, plan how to leave the stage or end the scene while still maintaining a safe distance. (LO2)

 

A few photos of me and my friends during rehearsals