Reflection ON My Progress

It has a been a long time that we don't have any exercise on performance, therefore I didn't reach my expectation. My old weakness had been exposed to the audience again, which are quiet and monotonous. In addition, I and Yun met a new problem that the extra character took too many lines and dominated the last part of our performance. In order to solve both of the issues, we spent the left days to focus on them. After reading the comments by classmates and using the time at these days, I gradually found my weakness and strengths through the collaboration and communication with Yun. I have been grateful to Yun because he always reminds me when I make mistakes.

When I checked my first draft's record, I found that my voices are quiet, and I even didn't have many gestures on hands or emotions on my face. When we hold our books on the stage, the audience felt we were just reading those lines. As the result, we tried to put more emotions while we were practicing the lines after that. I realized the changing of emotions can also help the audience to identify the changing of the scene. Some classmates reflected me that they could not see the layers of the story when the performance was going. This problem bothered me a while, and I assured a style of Tom that I would express on the stage at last. Yun suggested me to act Tom seem like scared by Jim. Meanwhile, this idea inspired me to design a progress of emotion in himself. Tom has gradually become the leader of this conversation which revealed that Jim is enforcing Tom to give an active monologue on his idea of movies and adventures. It is designed to be a series of fast and impressive advice and questions from Jim and finally digging Tom's spirit. To be a quiet and weak man, I found my sweet spot in the first half of the play. To be a radical man in the rest of the play, it is looked like a challenge for me. And I have tried to add pauses and gestures on it to decorate.

In my opinion, people are not only acting the characters but also showing themselves in front stage or behind the scene. Audience refresh their minds if they see the improvements made between the first draft and final draft. Yun has been involved in the scene when the first time he read the lines with me. I have seen how did he adjust the Jim to his own Jim by practicing, which reflected his suitability. On the stage, I see his solid determination to the performance of his eye's expression.  I see that how to lead the character but led by the character on my immaturity concept to the character. Yun is acting his version of Jim, not mine, which inspired me to stretch my body and to free myself. I hope I can follow my experiences from this time to enhance the next time.