Hedda Gabler Evaluation

During our first term of year 12 at the Brit school, our first unit of performance workshop involved a production of Henrik Ibsons play Hedda Gabler.

Whether it be during the rehearsals or on the night of the show, an aspect that was every important through out process of creating this peace was my ability to show an effective use and control of performance based techniques. Certain points at which these techniques where clearly demonstrated include my role within the show physically and vocally. Being that are only experience of performing this piece within the space was that of  the actual day, it meat that I would have to very quickly adapt from the significantly smaller surroundings of our rehearsal spaces to a much larger scale. Vocally this meant that in order to fully engage the audience my lines would need to be delivered with the right amount of volume and clarity.

In order to communicate the intentions and purpose of my character within the piece, things such as my characters costume, accent and body language where adapted and played upon to accentuate and individuate the role of my character. From reading the play and doing further background research into the world and times of our characters, I was able to gain a greater understanding of how my character being someone such as himself may have sounded and dressed, meaning I was able to introduce aspects to the piece that would work, really allowing me to play and be relaxed within the environment.

From the time spent working on this piece I have learnt the importance of working from my characters objectives, working from within the body to be as natural and fluid with my moments and words, embodying the character to the full extent. In order to achieve this, working on relaxing and imagination exercises in class meant I could be in the moment, leaving my thoughts behind and entering the mind and sole of Eilert Loveborg. One perticular exercise that i found very effective, involved laying in semi supine with your eyes and imagining that you are looking in the mirror as you character, allowing you to imagine exactly what they would look like and pay attention to every fin detail.

Overall I am greatly pleased with how the final performance went. Although at times I mad mistakes or slipped up on lines, in the end everyone put in all there effort to achieve what I believe to be a successful night and great learning experience.