I believe the strengths of my performance were my stage presence and spacial awareness. I used the space to portray my objectives, especially in my scene with Loveborg. I had to be aware that I was having a passionate moment with my ex lover whilst being completely conscious that my husband is in the next room. Using the space draws the audience in to these ups and downs of this scene, seeing me be drawn towards Eilert and then retracting when I fear my husband will see me and the scandal that would follow; the one thing I fear the most. Using the space like this is also key when performing in the round because you must be able to portray your objectives to the audience, so they can hear your internal monologue, even when you are not speaking. I also felt moving helped me embody Hedda's character. I found a lot of her character traits through milling and therefore believe this was important to transfer to the performance. It kept the piece flowing and experimented with the highs and lows of the beats and objectives.
Two tools that helped me in the performance was my choice of voice and costume. Hedda Gabler, an aristocratic young lady- it is definite that she would have had a different accent to me. Taking on a posh accent, concentrated on diction and pronunciation, helped me feel like the character. One of my fears was that I wouldn't be able to connect with such an extreme character, yet the accent made me forget that I was portraying a character, instead I was her. I had made a real connection with the character and the voice inspired all my other character choices- such as costume. On the day of the performance, when we're in costume, I felt completely in character. When I put on my costume it is like putting on the skin of the character and literally, stepping in their shoes. It put me in the setting of the play and was the final step of embodying the character.
After studying Stanislavsky, I made use of his practices, such as circles of attention. Hedda has many levels to her character and therefore circles of attention allowed me to portray the different depths to her character. She is being cold and dismissive, but underneath she is manipulating the situation smugly. To portray her 3D character, I had to employ the method of circles of attention. I was able to interact intimately with the characters on stage and with the audience by balancing my circles of attention and choosing appropriate times to project each one more strongly depending on what I was saying or what I and others were doing on stage.
However there are parts of my performance that need to be improved. For example the pace, or lack of it sometimes allowed there to be breaks in the energy and passion that should've been ever present in the scene. My whole scene with Eilert was a crazy mix of tension and passion which kept the actors and audience on the edge of their seat. However sometimes my pace and timing was badly timed, causing the energy to dip. In such a tense scene, this kind of lose is bad- the foundations of the whole scene, was the presence of tension, so when you lose that, you take away one of the building blocks, which may cause the whole scene to collapse. To improve on this I believe focusing more on beats and thought changes will allow me to establish a natural beat that will both help me maintain a steady, supportive pace which will also appear effective to to the audience.
Another improvement of my performance would be not being afraid of embracing the madness of my character. Hedda is an emotionally and mentally unstable character, and this begins to show throughout the play. She shows it a little in my scene, so at these moments I need to be fully ready to embrace this which, in turn, will help me truly understand my character. No one, not even someone as impulsive as Hedda, goes mad overnight, so the journey of her decent into madness needs to be portrayed to the audience. To do this I must choose bolder objectives to inspire me to make challenging and strange choices on stage.
In conclusion I believe the rehearsal process and the performance were very successful. I have enjoyed embodying such a intricate character. I started by not understanding her at all and have finished by having formed an opinion on her situation and character that I feel does her justice. I believe I was able to portray my intentions through my performance and am glad with the result.
However there are parts of my performance that need to be improved. For example the pace, or lack of it sometimes allowed there to be breaks in the energy and passion that should've been ever present in the scene. My whole scene with Eilert was a crazy mix of tension and passion which kept the actors and audience on the edge of their seat. However sometimes my pace and timing was badly timed, causing the energy to dip. In such a tense scene, this kind of lose is bad- the foundations of the whole scene, was the presence of tension, so when you lose that, you take away one of the building blocks, which may cause the whole scene to collapse. To improve on this I believe focusing more on beats and thought changes will allow me to establish a natural beat that will both help me maintain a steady, supportive pace which will also appear effective to to the audience.
Another improvement of my performance would be not being afraid of embracing the madness of my character. Hedda is an emotionally and mentally unstable character, and this begins to show throughout the play. She shows it a little in my scene, so at these moments I need to be fully ready to embrace this which, in turn, will help me truly understand my character. No one, not even someone as impulsive as Hedda, goes mad overnight, so the journey of her decent into madness needs to be portrayed to the audience. To do this I must choose bolder objectives to inspire me to make challenging and strange choices on stage.
In conclusion I believe the rehearsal process and the performance were very successful. I have enjoyed embodying such a intricate character. I started by not understanding her at all and have finished by having formed an opinion on her situation and character that I feel does her justice. I believe I was able to portray my intentions through my performance and am glad with the result.
