Working with NSA

I never knew the word "Areas For Improvement" could ever come to bite me in the ass other than during PW, but strangely enough after doing PW for the year you realise that everything has it's takeaway. And that includes our Promotional pieces we had to do.

For one, there is such a thing as over-rehearsing, and this unfortunately accompanies any movement piece one has to do. The line between expressing yourself with emotion through movement and having sharp definite movements to create emotion are two very different things. That's not to say everyone should stay away from Movement, no. Just be reminded that motivations of movement still apply, as much as motivations for all characters in any dramatic performance. I think my group took too long to choreograph movements and this inevitably led to us getting sick of our own piece, seeing as how we had to rehearse it over and over again to get movements right.

Secondly, never think that theatre traditions are rubbish. They aren't, because without them, you'd be as clueless as to how to even begin defining what your piece is. Choose something that is enduring, something that is applicable even to today's theatre practitioners. In that way, applications can be made easier, and justifications are more sensible based on what traditions you have chosen to follow. Don't try avant-garde crap for promotionals - because that usually entails alot of thinking about what is it you want to say. Choose something stable. That's not to say don't take risks, but don't be too reckless either.

Above all, KEEP THE CONCEPT SIMPLE. I don't think I can stress this enough. I think we all learnt this the hard way when we decided to do something that sounded really promising on paper and different in performance. Simplicity allows for themes, issues, performance intentions to come out easily and effectively. Hiding one simple lesson beneath layers of interpretation and metaphor is not going to help anyone, least of all the examiner. If they cannot understand your piece, then God help you.

I'm sorry if reflections seem as short, but for me these are the lessons that stood out the most strongly towards the end. I am thankful for not having a group that is fraught with conflict (except for the first part), and thankfully enough no one decided to poison anyone else's waterbottle.

The people I worked with have different working styles, and granted the most important thing in keeping a group together is to have structure. It sounds really conformist, but having a sense of order and regularity will allow your members to expect what happens next, so no one runs around like a headless chicken. Clearly define roles, deadlines, announcements, so that no one is left with vague instructions. Above all, realise that your members are not machines. They have lives too, so accomodate meeting times as best as you can to their school days. TSD is not the only H2 subject all of us offer.