Category: Morgan W

I cannot believe When You See It is finished!!! I still think I am in shock that this whole crazy and amazing experience is over. I didn’t know what to do with myself the day after the show, for the past 5 months my whole focus has been on Refract!

We had only dreamt of the response that we received audience members were crying and laughing all at once, things that had never been funny became hilarious, and the sadness was enhanced when over 150 people are in absolute silence as the emotion switched on stage. Our quick changes between the absolute highs to the most sensitive and haunting moments were what kept the audience completely transfixed on the stage.

The day was incredible and so was the performance, we were all exhausted and started to feel very ill on Sunday yet from somewhere during the warm up led by Sophie 7pm, there was a sense of energy that captured us all. As cliché as it sounds, the warm up left the whole cast focussed and  ready to give it everything we had.

At 7.20pm we all got into our positions for the door to open and the audience to start finding their seats. I had to lie down and be completely still, whereas the rest of the cast were interacting with each other. I sat and listened to the audience chatting away and speculating what the performance was going to entail. At that moment it all became very real; this was the end of my university experience and potentially the last time I would perform on this stage with the rest of Refract.

I was extremely nervous as we got in to our opening positions, the music aspect of the show was something I had little experience previously compared to the rest of the cast and I did not want to let them down. As the show was so jam packed and had lots of elements, I wanted to capture each moment perfectly. This type of performance was nothing that I had been part of before, I did not think I would enjoy and fall in love with being in a show that had singing, dancing and musical instruments as I am not a fan of cheesy musical style shows. Yet I 100% have loved the whole entire process and show, and that is thanks to Laura amazing director talents and Refract. When I was on stage, the whole show went past so fast that the nerves disappeared instantly, I just gave it everything I had, and at the end when it was my tap duet with Tom, which was one of my favourite scenes, I was so grateful to have the opportunity to tap again on stage and especially with Tom.

When I agreed to be lighting designer for when you see it, I was aware that I was going to be putting myself under a huge amount of pressure and taking on a big challenge. I had never experienced anything to do with lighting previously in my 3 years of university and the reason I wanted to be lighting designer is because I really regret not having a better understanding of the way theatre lighting and sound works. ‘It is the lighting designer’s job to interpret the concept through the medium of light’ (Morgan, 2003, 10).

I wanted to be as prepared as possible for our technical rehearsal because we only have 4 hours and Tec rehearsals can rapidly become incredibly stressful. I had created a draft of the lighting rig to help visualise and to show the technicians my vision.

Our lighting wasn’t too confusing as we wanted to keep it relatively simple as there were so many sound and projections and other technical elements happening throughout the performance.

When I arrived I spoke about the few special lighting requirements which included a diagonal panel of light and front lights that created a blinding flash as well as a backlight. Alex: LPAC technician, Anthony: Stage Manager and I then went programmed the lights. This ran very smoothly as I had created the Focus Chart with the spots and then the washes that were needed. We added some different colours to show contrast as they created a great affect on the bodies when on stage.

 

Morgan, N 2003. Stage Lighting for Theatre Designers. Entertainment Technology Press: Cambridge.

As the show has starting to come together, and the whole process is very quickly becoming very real. I have quickly learnt that the lighting ‘assists with the storytelling to the point it is helping direct the audience… and controlling the emotional response’ (Morgan, 2003, 13).

I created a document which has a detailed breakdown of every single scene and what happens, by having a clear and precise breakdown of the show it would allow the design of lighting to be as simple as possible. I decided to create this document that stated where each performer was stood and where they travelled to and what was happening in the scene and if there were any specific requirements or any significant elements that were occurring that could possibly affect the lighting. Anthony, the stage manager has been a great help throughout the initial process and we have worked very well together.

I completed the focus chart and used the example that Darren had given as it had what I was meant to include in a focus chart, I also did a lot of research on what a focus chart is meant to achieve and the true purpose of this, because I wanted to completely understand what the focus chart does so that I was making it as useful as possible, the focus chart is prepared for any issues during the tec ‘the lighting designer gas just about everything immediately at …her fingertips to quickly troubleshoot the problem (Shelley, 2014, 337).

We met Darren and Alex who will be the technicians for our performance and our Tec rehearsal. The meeting was successful, the technicians helped with any minor issues regarding lighting. I left the meeting with a much clearer understanding of what the lighting process on tec day will entail; I have created the technical documents and am very familiar with them as is our stage manager, so feel prepared and determined Tec day will run smoothly.

 

Shelley, Steven Louis 2014. A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting. Focal Press: Oxon.

Morgan, N 2003. Stage Lighting for Theatre Designers. Entertainment Technology Press: Cambridge.

Laura had asked Tom and I to chereograph a tap duet to Mr Bojangles for one of the final scenes of the show. We researched many different tap routines for inspiration including Adam Garcia’s performance on Got to Dance 2011.

As this is going to be ending scene in our performance, we wanted it to be jolly and have a feel good vibe, we wanted to also show the complete contrast between the two characters. I was a drunk, who had no control over my body.

Initially, it was very hard to create a tap dance that showed I was a drunk and not in control of my body without being too erratic and the dance looking ridiculous. Tom’s moves were precise, clear and contained and were a natural part of his movement, I had to characterise myself to be very loose and free so my movements were not very precise I found this very hard, as it is going against everything I have done in tap dancing.

After 3 hours of solid rehearsals and choreographing, we had created a performance that was a story the audience could follow. Alongside the lyrics that tell a story of a drunk man, we created a story through tap dance, dancing together and dancing separately throughout the song, showing the different sides and the journey that Tom has gone on from Drunk to Sober and the fight with himself whether to drink or not.

 

Got to Dance Sky1, (2011).Got to Dance Series2 Adam Garcia’s performance in full. [online]. Accessed 18 May 2o15. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFlO_3Zaz5M

For the past 5 weeks, Refract had been making great progress, it came to the day where we had to show Forefront Theatre Company and Diane and the fear suddenly overtook. We were going to show something that the 10 of us had cared over and put so much time and effort in, this was a huge moment for us. As much as we were all excited to show off something we were proud of, it was incredibly nerve racking; what if Forefront and Diane sat there with blank looks spread cross their faces?

Fortunately our work in progress was incredibly useful; although we had stood out and watched rehearsals; we had  a complete understanding of what we wanted to achieve. Allowing Forefront and Diane to watch without explaining what we were trying achieve, they could tell us exactly what they understood from our performance.

In our feedback, Forefront and Diane stated they understood and recognised the famous images that each scene was re-telling. However, what was unclear was the story that linked all of these images together. We were so happy that the images were coming across clearly to the audience without us showing the image directly or telling the audience outright what image each scene was trying to convey. The images we were presenting are ‘transcending from a global to a personal scale’ (Refract, 2015).

Then we started creating the story that ran though these images and a story that the audience could believe in. This was the beginning of Billy and Dolly.

Refract Theatre Company. (2015) Manifesto. [online] Available at: https://refracttheatrecompany.dev.lincoln.ac.uk/our-manifesto [Accessed 18 March  2015].