Reflection...

I met my individual responsibilities well as I had all my lines learnt well ahead of the technical rehearsal. I was organised in the fact that I took responsibility for choosing my costume, alongside the directors .When it needed alterations I went to the wardrobe during lunchtime to get my costume fixed.  I took responsibility for sourcing the main prop – a white candle. I attended all in-class rehearsals and those that were outside of class for example the technical, first dress and performances.

Our scene was performed extremely well and we felt that on the night we were all able to convey raw emotions and throw ourselves into our roles better than before.  Our piece was easily understandable, our message, themes and the attitudes and intentions of our characters clear to the audience. For example one audience member felt that our piece was the only scene that she fully understood, and could interpret the language easily.

I was able to communicate my role well to the audience by use of clearly articulated lines. By use of vowels and plosives my lines were easily audible. I worked very hard to keep my words at a low pitch and paced so that they were able to emphasise panic, but slow enough to be understood and processed by the audience. I tried to make sure I always had the correct posture; straight when I was standing up and hunched over Desdemona when I was sitting by her bed.  My movements were soft; stroking her head and holding her hand however they become rigid and forceful when fighting with Othello.  I aimed to perform with all my energy put into Emilia especially when she is thrown up against the wall by Othello. I paid special attention to the fidgeting in my hands which I clasped together out of nervousness when telling Othello of Rodrigo’s death. I worked on creating tension in all of my movements so that the audience could see Emilia’s desperation, especially when Othello had his hand around her throat and her arm was trying to tear it off.  I made use of the space by acting in Platea, when Emilia enters the scene, but Locus when she is being attacked by Othello. I also varied my levels by standing, sitting and ultimately end up scrambling backwards lying on the floor downstage.  I know that I was able to portray a fiery and distressed character because I was told that many audience members felt uncomfortable watching me squirm as I was thrown around by Othello. I was also told by audience members that they had never seen me play such a strong and emotional character before so it was a surprise to see me in my role.  Next time, i.e. at the Shakespeare Festival I am going to try to work on the more emotional and upset side that the audience see of Emilia when she is sitting with Desdemona. I would love to be able to speak slower but with the same amount of passion and using a very cold and icy tone when speaking to Othello just before he confesses to killing his wife.

I think that another successful scene was that of Richard the 3^rd. I liked the simplistic and symbolic use of three black boxes in a diagonal line onstage, one for each of the three women. I think that Hannah Schunk-Hockings played a very powerful Queen Margret because she spoke very clearly and darkly, and had a very powerful stature as a character. I thought her manipulation of the Duchess of York, played by Annabelle Cray was very strong especially when she pushed her down at the downstage left pillar. The way Annabelle used her body to pull herself up the wall again was very well done as great tension and pain was shown in her facials and physicality. I also liked the use of the deep booming drum at the end of the scene in which Queen Elizabeth screams. The drum seemed like a heartbeat getting faster and faster, drawing the audience closer in and the scream showed how mad the Queen was going, building a lot of tension onstage. When ended the scene suddenly it did so giving the audience a fright which added to the drama of the piece.

Researching helped me to see that Emilia was not always the fiery and aggressive woman she is shown to be in Act 5 Scene 2. She is rather weak and is constantly aiming to please her husband Iago who treats her dreadfully. Noting that Emilia was instrumental in the death of Desdemona has helped me to understand the feelings of guilt and love Emilia has and why she becomes so upset when Desdemona dies. Because she feels partly responsible she is determined to expose Othello as the killer – she screams loudly for all to hear “The Moor hath killed my mistress, Murder, Murder.” Finding out about the rocky marriage that Emilia is in, also helped me to portray her as a very emotional woman; one who is fed up with men pushing their wives around. I wanted to portray her outburst to Othello as something that has never happened before, as her anger gets the better of her and her fury is unleashed on her lady’s killer.