One of the most useful roles I have taken on throughout the course of rehearsals is that of the outside eye. As I am responsible for overseeing the project on a more administrative basis I am not involved in practical rehearsals on a regular basis and therefore do not follow the development of the piece in detail.
At fixed points throughout the process Laura and I set dates for the cast to show me the piece for feedback. This allows me, as more of an audience member rather than member of the company, to provide feedback to the Director and Cast on movement, script and transitions. The feedback I provide is then used to develop the work further.
It goes without saying that the more people to provide feedback the more the piece will benefit after all “the presence of an audience is central to the definition of theatre” (Freshwater, 2009, 1). In Refract we are very lucky to have three members of the production team who are not performing, two of whom make up the Directorial team, who can provide regular feedback on the piece. We also have a close relationship with another theatre company, Forefront, who we were lucky enough to share our work with whilst it was still in the development process. Again, we found their feedback very useful and took their comments on board in the final stages of rehearsals.
This feedback has helped strengthen our piece and provided it with clarity and detail.
Work Cited
Freshwater, H. (2009) Theatre & Audience. Palgrave Macmillan:Basingstoke.