The rehearsal period for this show was very enjoyable as we got the chance to play and experiment with different elements of the show, and having different roles within the production company meant I had plenty of responsibilities alongside acting during the process. Before this project, I would have said that I wasn’t the strongest at devising and I barely contribute whenever we take part in a process like that and I definitely showed that during our first six weeks, but after working closely as a group, I enjoyed getting to create this piece from scratch and having an exercise where we got to try out different ideas and themes before settling on this one, it really helped to show me what else is out there and we weren’t pigeon holing ourselves before the process even started. We all agreed that this was the strongest idea we created on that day and we decided to see what characters and elements we could add to make there more storytelling inside of it. Our casting process was very simple for this, as when we were playing around with ideas we chose who would look most like the character and what dynamic would work. I was chosen for the role of Hope as I have a younger playing age than the rest of the company and it could stretch to a character of this age, and many of our roles ended up being everyone’s typecast. For the next process, I would like to experiment with different roles and character traits as during my time at Miskin, I’ve regularly played the victim or the child character so I would like to experience different stories, characters and ideas in our next process.
I didn’t think I would enjoy taking this show on the road but after our first performance, I couldn’t wait for the next one! It was really nice getting to build a strong connection with the audience as I was the one guiding them through the story and learning alongside them. It felt very personal to share that journey with them and I hope they all left the performance having been inspired and educated. I was really happy with the character I created and I felt very proud to share her story with everyone watching. I worked so hard to create a character that the kids could relate to and I wanted to show them that they are able to make change, no matter how big or small it is, and I felt like we made a difference to how they see the world. We had some challenges to deal with along the way and every school brought a new audience with new reactions which was fun to play and experiment with. It was nice to perform to a range of age groups and different amounts of kids in each performance, it was also interesting going into the schools and working around their settings! I also enjoyed the Q+A’s we did about acting and our training so far as everyone, especially those watching the in house, they all seemed very invested in our journey as a company and they were interested in how we got to the point of performance. It was a challenge having to adapt this information for our target audience, but it was really lovely to see how inspired the kids had become after watching the piece and they seemed really interested in how we came up with the show. I personally felt very independent during this week and as stressful as it was at times, I found it exciting having a lot of responsibilities inside of the tour!
Our schools tour has been a great first process for us to start being collaborative and understand more about how everyone works and what our strengths and weaknesses are, both as a group and individually. It's been so lovely performing for children that truly believe they are in this world and can be a real part of the journey with us, I felt like we were sharing this with them rather than performing it for them! Playing Hope has made this show feel much more personal as she is one of the kids and she's learning about the environment at the same time as the audience, and I've loved connecting with them on different reactions and moments to make it much more exciting and imaginative for them! I’ve developed as an actor and I understand more about my craft, we have become very collaborative and trusting as a company and I’m really proud of the way I approached the roles I was given. Overall, I wasn’t sure how this project would go for me, but I’m very proud of the changes I’ve made and I understand much more about what I am capable of!
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