david jackson final blog

1-There was a lot of individual work formed various themes were created but common themes that stood out throughout the majority of Porto was the idea relationships weather it was new love, a love triangle or a more complex situation. As the piece began taking shape the information we received through our play sessions from each other further and also throughout the performance there was a question of what is the load we are carrying what is in the bag this was key when we did the entrances a lot of people continued to look in their bag which made the ensemble more interested in what everyone had especially Blake and Nicolas character they seemed as if what they were carrying was physically and mentally holding them down.
A contrast to the first statement which is made “have you ever felt alone in a crowd” we came in as individuals but as the piece goes on we see people coming together and created sub groups then it begins to look as if maybe these people knew each other from before or there may have been past encounters. Simple things like we all have a story and all have baggage we bring into the space is a clear indication of unity.
Also there was an issue of anxiety, waiting for something being desperate wanting to move forward but we can’t get out of Porto.
The shared experiences that tied the community together was again being brought into something and not being aware of it for example when we do the reprisal at the end we get brought into it unwillingly and even though we did it before at the start this time the ensemble doing it slowly was symbolic of the lack of control we each had over our state of mind at that time which is where I feel no matter how we all got into Porto the individual encounter that we had during the piece that at this time by the end we were all in one place mentally either looking for an answer or a way out.


2-The change in space encouraged a change in performance level. Strengths were that we had a bigger space so in the preriffery we were able to use it to our advantage having more space to make our group work more visible. In addition to this throughout the process of Porto we are use to working with change and constantly developing so having stairs and pillars on the side did not hinder the piece but added dynamics to the piece which Antoinette and I used to our advantage which did not change our story but developed it more which I feel was common thing within the ensemble. The theatre space created a new sense of adventure.
Behaviour and attitude was improved this was again I feel a consequence of being able to be seen all the time so we got to terms with constantly performing. Weakness that came from this was possibly the fact that we came on from the sides as many times when we done the warm up which lead to the character building and interacting with others we did this great but as soon as we had to walk to the side out of view many people lost the focus and intensity of their character as they thought they were no longer performing so then when they came on the entrances were not as good as they should be whereas the lack of space in the classroom in a way forced the ensemble to stay in character as they was always visible.
Like any other theatre piece the change in space made us have to establish ourselves within that space thing like eye levels, marking of the spot lights had to be done this came apparent when we began to realise that certain things in order to be seen we needed to move back so even though we technically had a bigger space there was less room to work with due the lighting and as a weakness there was a lot of issues of positioning of the chairs within the train section as people did slightly get complacent in where to put them or how close or far they were from the audience this was something that was kept commented on but not improved throughout.
I feel it was fair to say that on a performance level the group got better but when it came to the technical side it was a bit of a struggle.



3-Even half way through the final performance I felt as if my character was growing and developing, so for me each show I did I felt that I could give more and try knew things but not going to far as if I had no control over what I am doing and did not make sense for my character however I had the same energy and intensity from the first show even though there was a lot of problems I did not let that hinder my performance.
My role grew stronger within the piece as I felt like I played a significant role especially when it came to the religious element as I was the opposite to Porto so I could relate to it more as I did feel alone in the crowd but my character felt that it was his task to help people weather it was helping out Waqar, trying to save Gina from Edward or being there to help Nikki. For me my character did not feel forced at times I backed down as I wanted significant things I did or interactions stand out.
My main growth which I would say for me would be outside the character me as a person there was a lot of barriers I had to over come and sense of leaving me as a person outside of the theatre and when I entered to do the warm up even back stage there was interactions with people in character which felt so good and natural to me but helped our bond on stage a lot more because Antoinette and I shared a mutual understanding and we was in a good place performance wise together.

When I got in the theatre space for me that was a big confidence boost the RSVP model is a great process to have because the building of my character would not be possible without it the research I did allowed me have something to go back to when I felt as if I was not improving or developing within myself. Just before we did the final performance we were told to interact with others look to our left and to our right and how do we respond to them this for me was like being back in the classroom doing the playing thing again which kind of felt like we were going back to the S stage but unusual at the same time because I now felt more established and it was good to go back and address that as it reminded me that physical theatre is not about a story or play it’s about a character and this character can interact with anyone and not be thought about in detail but just natural and in a way this is going back to research stage finding out who we are then its Scoring again as it may feel right to change something slightly to interact with someone I have never worked with before. Even if I was to do this again I would probably still discover something knew about me.