Love – No Added Sugar

Performing Love.

Jozey Wade / June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 / Love, Music, performance, Reflection

So, we did it. ‘Three Words’ made it to the stage… and it’s honestly taken me almost an entire week to come down from the incredible high that evening gave me, and truly take in how it went.

As Gabby said in her blog, the response from the audience was truly astounding. I had spent so much time meticulously over analysing tiny flaws and mistakes in recent weeks, wanting the show to be the best it could be, that I think I had forgotten to truly take in and appreciate what we did have and how an audience might take it. However, as the show opened that night and the audience began laughing in the very first song, I finally started to realise – oh, we have something here. We have a very decent show. And performing it was really like no other experience I had had before.

Again, leading up until the performance I was thinking and worrying constantly about the musical side of my performance, especially playing instruments, as it’s not something I had a great deal of experience with before this show, and, as such, I wasn’t overly confident. However, being out there, I honestly was having so much fun, I almost completely let go of my nerves, for the first time in any performance I’ve done.

Being on the stage for 100% of the show was a huge part of what made this such a different experience for me, performance wise. Being fully immersed in the show throughout, there was no time to come off stage, come out of character and let the nerves take over again about the next scene. In my head, it all just flowed. And it really added to the feeling of team work and camaraderie between the company. We were all on stage, together, supporting each other, working together, throughout the show, and that really added to just how enjoyable and engaging performing it was. Of course, it being the debut performance, there were hitches; technical glitches and a few little performance mistakes. But nothing massive, and I do think we covered any mistakes from the audience well. Of course, those mistakes and glitches are also things we can learn from for any future performances… as quite a few people have mentioned in their blogs, we certainly don’t want this to be the end for No Added Sugar, or ‘Three Words’ itself, and it doesn’t look like it will be. Watch this space!

I always love the shows I am part of, but I have honestly never loved every minute of a performance as much as I loved being part of ‘Three Words’ that night. Furthermore, I am not exaggerating when I say that the process of creating this show has been the most inspiring, rewarding, professional and educational devising process I have ever taken part in. I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone, including performing as myself (something I have previously been reluctant about) as opposed to a character, trying out new performance disciplines (like different kinds of puppetry) and going from being able to play about three chords on guitar very slowly to playing a full song or two in front of an audience. I could not be more glad of every decision we made that pushed me. Even if, by some awfully unfortunate circumstances, No Added Sugar does have to end here, I am taking away so much from this process and from this performance; so many memories, connections with wise, talented people, lessons in performing, lessons in music, and lessons in life… and love.

Audience participation: How did it work on the night?

Lauren Elizabeth Walker / June 1, 2014June 2, 2014 / Love, performance, Reflection

(Butler, L. 2014)

So on the 27^th of May, we performed our debut performance at the LPAC! Also, Phoebe and I had the daunting task of picking two audience members to be wed! This for me was the scene I was worried about the most, firstly because I had written it and I was worried that no one would laugh but also because of all the things that could have gone wrong. Audience participation is such a tricky subject as you can rehearse different scenarios but you never know how its actually going to happen on the night, but how do people actually feel about audience participation? And how did it go down on the night?

“How restrictive, inhibiting, and alienating for the spectator the sitting area of the classical amphitheatre is can be seen especially in the case of a contemporary interactive theatre event largely based on the collaboration of the public”(Sakellardou, 2014).

On the night, we couldn’t really have hoped for it to have gone any better. Walking into the audience was very daunting and we had to make sure that we chose the right audience member. We wanted two people who had never previously met before and we tried to stay away from choosing a drama student as we wanted somebody who would feel awkward about being on the stage. On the night I think we ended up with a drama student, but this didn’t matter to much as you could still see that they felt awkward about being up there! Making them read the speech ‘We don’t want this wedding’ at the end of the scene contributed to spontaneity of the scene and putting the live feed on our participant added pressure to them, but I also feel it aided our performance because the audience got a live view of his reaction. Audience participation can be labelled as cheesy and also more fitting to pantomime than serious theatre, but I feel the way we and other contemporary shows (such as filter) utilise it gives it a fresh and new feel. We used audience participation to put our point across to the audience without simply just delivering a scene to them. Like filter, we allowed the audience to feel as they were in the scene, and to share the awkwardness with the participants on stage. I think this scene will help us to keep up the spontaneity in this performance if we were to perform it again. As every time it will be different and will reflect the mood of the audience, sometimes it could go wrong but I think that is the beauty of audience participation. ‘Organised chaos’ was one of the main things we wanted to achieve when we set out of devising this show and feel this scene did and will create this again!

Butler, L. (2014)

Works cited

Butler,L. (2014)

Sakellardou, E. (2014) ‘”Oh My God, Audience Participation!”: Some Twenty-First-Century Reflections’, Comparative Drama, 48, 1/2, pp. 13-38, International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 2 June 2014.

Nine Lucky People

Abigail Dawson / June 1, 2014June 2, 2014 / Love, Reflection, Technical

14315762344_ca48138cec_b — (Taken by Linford Butler: 27/45/14)

Taking our caption ‘Two Lucky People’ from one of our scenes, we found that there were not two, but in fact nine lucky people in our company. Every single member, including myself, could not feel any more fortunate to be able to create and perform Three Words. Throughout our devising process we were never alone; we worked closely as a team and collaborated with our ideas. From a Production Manager’s point of view I certainly could not have technically done this show without my Stage Manager (Shellie Barrowcliffe), she was my rock throughout this production. While regularly meeting up for production meetings, together we created the lighting for Three Words and made sure any technical requirements were secured for rehearsals and finally for our show. I trust that together we made a fantastic team and I hope to work closely with her again at some point in our careers.

For our actual performance day, 27^th May 2014, we arranged for the whole cast and crew to enter the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre theatre at 9am. Normally we would not call the cast till around 12pm, but even though our technical rehearsal went smoothly we realised that figuring out sound levels would take longer than we expected. Therefore we had to make sure all the cast were available from the beginning of our Get In so that our LPAC technician Martin could start checking all of the microphone levels for actors and musicians for every scene in show. The entire cast was very patient throughout our Get In, they listened carefully whether it was to speak into a microphone, stand in a certain light, or set up the stage with props. They were all completely focused and did not wander off, consequently it created a calm atmosphere for us all to work in efficiently. Our cue-to-cue was mainly for my SM and any other technicians operating the show to double check the lighting and sound was prepared for each cue in the prompt book. From this, we went onto our dress rehearsal. We made sure every cast member was aware that it must be as high energy as our final performance that evening, and fortunately they were all incredibly professional and we left our dress fun feeling like we had a show ready, professional standard, to show our audience. It left us all pleased and in high spirits for the final performance.

For our Get Out, my fantastic SM had prepared a detailed schedule for each person to follow, in order for us to clear everything away and leave the premises in good time. Again, each cast and crew member were completely focused in the tasks they had been given and followed them carefully. And considering how many cables we had lying around the stage with all the microphones and lights, we were able to tidy everything away and put them back in their original places if they belonged to the LPAC. Below are links to both the Performance day and Get Out schedules that my SM prepared:

Three Words Performance Day Schedule

Three Words Get Out Plan

My final words for this performance are excitement, hope and potential. I believe No Added Sugar, and Three Words itself has a future. The feedback we have received from this production has been incredible and I could not be prouder to call myself a member of this team. I start to feel emotional at looking through any photos from past rehearsals, or even the ones from the actual performance, I have had the time of my life doing Three Words. I seriously hope this production, and company, live on. The future is bright, and we have potentially already been offered an opportunity to perform Three Words once more. Who knows, you may even find us at Edinbrough Fringe Festival next year. Keep your eyes peeled!

Works Cited

Abigail Dawson (2013) Reflection of our Final Degree Performance [Online Video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mint9L2x7M0 [Accessed 1 June 2014]

Our latest teaser trailer!

Jozey Wade / May 24, 2014 / Love, Marketing

Check it out:

Put together by our marketing team and director… with a little help from me.

It was during an S Club 7 Song…

Gabrielle Ruth Evans / May 20, 2014June 2, 2014 / Development, Love, Music, performance

All the musical elements for Three Words are coming together. The number of Music rehearsals has been doubled and the harmonies are being nailed. Like in my previous blog, some of the performers were finding it difficult to get and keep the correct harmonies. Therefore we have had to change a harmony in All you need is Love into two parts, however over the past couple of days, one of our performers Sam was able to pick up a newly revised third harmony which was what the piece was missing. I was able to leave Sam to sing the harmony, as she is one of our most confident singers. She has been a great help in helping the group pitch some of the most difficult harmonies. In adding the third harmony back in, I think it has given the song a stronger texture. The only thing worrying me now is the tone. It is coming after a difficult section, but will in theory and hopefulness lift up the audience’s mood and helps them believe love is all you need. In keeping with the song, our group had a moment of pure genius while rehearsing in Jozey’s bedroom. It was difficult to try to come up with a way to end the piece. At this point the lengthy music rehearsal was getting to everyone and we were going to give it a rest for the day. But then something magical happened. I am describing it as magical because it gave me Goosebumps and as it began to unravel glockenspiel master Becky’s face lit up with excitement. All the hard work the singers put in that day had paid off with a great ending of what can only be described as a love line mash-up. Here is an example:

Of course after the magic, became the practicality of directing at which point will the build up start, who will start it, how long will it go on for and how will it end? But I felt as musical director; after the hours spent it really is true that in a moment of pure spontaneity something amazing can be created. Jozey and Phoebe will lead the group to start and through the direction of myself and Jozey voices will gradually be added into the mix until it reaches a point. Then the guitar playing will cut out and voices will begin to fade out to leave phoebes last line… love is all you need. I think this will be a lovely way to end such a chaotic and unique piece and in a way is a symmetrical to the beginning.

From this point on all ‘Three Words’ needs is its finishing touches to the performance. Some of the parts required some enhancement. In particular during First Kisses one of the performers, Abbi’s line is ‘It was during an S Club 7 song’ at which point anyone around her bursts into a dance to Reach. Instead of using a soundtrack it would be nice if the motif was played on piano. Another thing we added late on into the performance was the Imperial March. This replaced the wedding march in the wedding scene as we thought it would add another aspect to the ever changing hilarity of the performance. These little moments of music come within in some light and funny pieces.

As well as adding little bits into the performance in order to fill the silence between the little scenes and to make the piece more flowing, it was decided that the transitions will be a mixture of guitar, piano, verbatim and in some cases spontaneous song but together by myself, Jozey and Tom. The piano parts in particular, some were created using simple chords and others were parts of songs featured in the piece. This I hope will help to tie all of the little sections together and polish up any scene changes.

At this point, I am feeling confident that the all the elements especially the music shall be good. With only a week to go, the big numbers just need polishing and the individual music needs practising but I am confident in saying as a company we have put our heart and soul into the performance, challenged ourselves and from my point of view with help from the fabulous Jozey the music is where at the standard if not above what I am hoped from the beginning of the process. I just hope in this next week we can build it up more and give the audience something amazing to watch and listen too!

7 days left… No Added sugar … Three Words… LET’S DO THIS!