7 'Cherry Orchard' - Evaluation

Evaluation of our Cherry Orchard Performance

Basics:
In our performance I felt that our pace was the most improved aspect as we went from a boring and depressive play to a comedic play all because we sped up our pace. It is frequent in Chekhov plays for the pace to be slow as it focuses on quite depressive subjects and it tries to heighten the naturalistic style of the piece. Therefore actors often perform the plays in a dull pace. However this can make the plays boring to watch as they miss the natural humour to the piece and there is not much of an impact when something bad does happen. 

When we performed the Cherry Orchard we tried to have a fast pace throughout the performance. This was effective as it meant the natural comical moments were highlighted. For example when Firs said 'She came home. Can you believe it? The Mistress came home. We waited so long.'  he became over excited and he started wailing his arms around. His sweet reaction made the audience laugh. Also when a depressive subject came into the scene, we were able to draw the atmosphere down. 

However we weren't able to keep this consistent through out the performance as we had a memorial bell go off during our final act. When the character Boris said 'Some more water Please'  the bell went off during his speech so we all had to be silent for 2 minuets. up to that point the play was running at a very smooth pace but this silence did break up the play a little bit and it broke the atmosphere from the final moments of the play. Luckily the actor who played Boris immediately went back into his speech as soon as the silence was over. It meant that the play was able to carry on as if nothing had happened. I felt this didn't overly effect our performance as it was recovered well but it would have been better if the scene could have flowed straight to the end.

Stylistically:
For this performance we were focusing on portraying Chekhov's play 'The Cherry Orchard' in a naturalistic style. I felt that we did accomplish this aim as we used some of Stanislavsky's  system and skills like emotions. For example, in part 2 of our performance the actor playing Lyuba had to cry as she loses her house to someone she considered as a friend and the orchard is going to be cut down. when she started crying she collapsed to the floor and she made a sort of distorted breathless cry and when I heard the cry in the performance I thought she was actually crying as it sounded so painful. I felt this made her performance natural as she made me worry for her when she was on stage and she didn't over do it. 

Actor's Skills:
I think the best aspect of our play was the use of gestures and small movements as it made the characters come to life even when they weren't talking. For example in the final act when the family are about to leave the home for good, we had the servants in the background of the dialogue taking down the bookcase, antiques and was packing them away into boxes. It meant that the stage was empty when they finally left but it also showed a living working household even though they were on a stage. Also every character had 3 specific gestures that were repeated throughout the play. My gestures were holding my hands together, hugging my self by rapping my arms around my elbows and rubbing the back of my neck. because these 3 gestures were repeated in the performance it showed how we were creatures of habit and therefore made it more natural as it related to human instincts.  

Team Work and Support in Performance:
I felt that we did have great teamwork in the performance as we all reacted to the other actor's on stage and we all learnt our lines in order for the scene to be performed. For example, when Boris said 'To be honest she says all kinds of things' he is meant to fall asleep, snore and then wake himself up again. this moment worked well as all the other actors on stage all reacted to him falling asleep and then when he woke up again. Because everyone reacted it added to the comedic actions of Boris and therefore made it a very amusing moment in the scene. Subsequently this shows that having that type of teamwork between the cast means that they can produce stand out moments to the audience.  

Personal Review:
In my own performance I think that I was good at keeping constant movements that were natural and suited my character. For example, I was given a cup of coffee from Firs which I kept sipping from throughout the performance until I said the line 'my coffee in finished. Now to bed.' I felt that this was a very naturalistic movement as it showed how she could have finished her coffee and it showed a normal human trait and therefore I felt this helped me achieve my aim.

However I don't feel that I used much projection. For example when I enter onto the stage for the first time I spoke up stage towards the nursery and so some of my lines were lost a little. Also I was speaking in a lower tone to characterise Lyuba but this did mean that some of my lines were lost in the lower tone. considering that this was a workshop performance, I would  next like to look into projecting my voice in order to improve the clarity of my lines and mainly focus on the tonality so that I don't lose my words.