Assignment 6: Anne Russell

Overall, I was proud of our little performance. There were many elements that played in to making it successful. Our character development was created in large part by vocal tone: Amelia R. did a good job of using a snobby tone of voice, and keeping her head held high to portray Lady Bracknell's self-righteous, arrogant nature. Amelia C. employed a hesitant, shameful tone to convey Miss Prism's embarrassment of losing the baby, and then switched to a very bright tone to reflect her switch to Gwendolyn, who is very optimistic and oblivious. I attempted to use exaggerated gestures to give life to Chasuble, who would otherwise be a rather stagnant character.

 I would say all of us stayed in character fairly well, including our two character switches. Amelia R's self-righteous tone remained throughout the excerpt, which reflected the unchanging temperament that Lady Bracknell possessed. Olivia wore Jack's sentiments on her sleeve, from her eagerness as to the story of the handbag, to her conviction in her final conclusion in the end regarding the "vital importance of being earnest."

I would say voice contains both our strongest and weakest points. Our accents added to the play, both realistically and comically. However, we all could have spoken a bit louder, and maybe slightly clearer. But perhaps the video makes it even harder to hear than in reality.

Space was slightly difficult for us, as our scene was not one that was full of action, but I think we best made use of the space when we paced across the stage during particularly long lines. It provided some additional interest as the audience listened to many words from the same actor, and it allowed for the character speaking to interact non-verbally with the others on the stage. For example, I walked away from Jack to show Chasuble's disappointment in him for changing his mind about the christening. Also, Amelia C was able to use a chair to her advantage as she sank into it to portray her guilt from the day she carelessly lost the baby. Given our lack of significant action, I think we used the space around us the best we could. Also, we tried to make the characters on stage still matter, even when they weren't speaking. For example, I gasped loudly when Lady Bracknell mentioned a baby. There were many moments when I was merely a spectator on stage, so I tried to make my facial expression and body language mirror what was going on around me. I think we could have made that even more exaggerated and dramatized to add interest to the characters who were not directly involved in a particular scene.

Thankfully, we were all very prepared and never stumbled over our lines, which allowed us to focus more on our actions, and the embellishments that made the scene come to life. Our overall presentation I thought was mostly polished, aided by our costumes, sound effects, and subtle movement around the stage. We brought the scene to life as best we could, in our own way, and paid tribute to a play that has brought laughter to many different audiences.

Performing this scene definitely gave me a greater appreciation for both that particular scene, and the play as a whole. Many things don't become funny until you say them out loud and grasp the full meaning and implications from the inflection in your voice. I was able to better understand the banter between the characters when we acted it out, and better empathize with the characters when we were able to see their emotions manifested through our own reactions. A new appreciation for acting grew within me, too, as I realized just what a challenge memorizing lines is. You really have to be in the mindset of your character in order to feel what you are doing and saying, so that you are more like a person and less like a robot. I am grateful for the experience and hope that this won't be my last time on stage.