The performance

The performance was amazing. It went perfectly well, I was very impressed because we remembered all our ques and all of our set changes. The part where I drum sounded spot on to the actions of the characters. And the deaths of the characters had a great effect on the audience. They gave us great feedback. I think we could have done a much better job if we didn't speak over each other, we only did it a few times but it didn't look professional and it showed us slightly slipping out of character. Overall however I think we smashed it. We pulled off every technique we did and everyone in the audience said they enjoyed it. Our outfits where perfect aswell. We looked smart and slick and that's the impression we wanted to give. I was especially impressed with the movement scene with me Kyle and theo. Everything went really well. And it showed off our physical theatre ability, however I do feel we could have stayed in time a lot more. In rehearsal we stayed perfectly in time to the music. However on the night we sped up a little. It didn't ruin the movement scene. It just didn't look as tight as we had originally planned. I'm proud of everyone In my group for pulling togehter and putting on a great show. 

Sound and lighting

Throughout the performance we have various sound effects and lighting effects. For instance. In the arguement scene. Where me Kyle, theo and tom are having a huge fallout which turns into a fight. We use a lot of techniques. Including slow motion, during the slow motion we have strobe lighting on. Also we have an effect monitor on the speaker and during the fight we play music. Then when the slow motion starts and the strobe lights kick in. We use the isolator effect which slows down the music aswell. This looks really cool from the audiences perspective. At the end we added dans death in. We have a final blackout when dan shoots himself. We had never run this until the performance. However we pulled it off perfectly on the night. And the effect on the audience must have been amazing. We got feedback from the audience that they felt emotional when dan killed himself. Which is the effect we wanted to have 

Using skills in performance

In our performance I decided to use my skills. Personally I'm a drummer. In a metal band. And I thought it would be a really good idea to use the drums in the part at the end of the piece when tom kills Ellie. It will add so much more effect and I've actually written a piece. It's constructed so that every time a bunch is thrown. I hit a cymbal. It looks really really clever. And we got loads of good feed back from the other group and from the audience. When it comes to the end of the attack scene. Before Ellie is killed, tom is throwing constant punches to Ellie. Whilst he is doing this. I play a lot of fast double bass parts and also tom subconsciously heard Kyle shouting things to tom.. Which shows that Tom is clearly a sick man and has gone insane. I do feel that maybe we could have incorporated more skills into the performance. I know I involved drumming but maybe the other members of the piece could have done something similar? 

Diary entry

May 13th 1930

Dear diary. 

The gang is at its strongest point now. We just carried out a bank job in the city central. We are getting tighter now as a group and pulling together. The boss really knows how to keep a group strong. We've recently had some trouble with the banker literi. For not paying up what he owed us, but that's been dealt with. He won't be messing with us again, but for now we need to lay low until the cops stop searching for us. Maybe we can head down to speak easy. Have a few drinks plan some next missions. Who knows what lies ahead. I'm enjoying being in this gang. I can see a much brighter future than the one I would have had in Tennessee. I've become really close to Stan. After meeting him in the government camp we became really good partners. I'd never really thought about being in a gang. It never really appealed to me. I was never a man of violence, but it seems the only way to get what I want. To live the American Dream.. Is to be violent. We will be successful. 

Costumes

We have come to the conclusion that because we are performing a piece set in the 1930's it would be best to dress up in smart suits, because gang members back in these days wore smart outfits to perhaps show power? The characters in our performance are also blood thirsty. And torture for pleasure. So we want to come across as wicked and evil and I feel dressing in a suit will give off this impression to the audience. Below is a picture of me and theo dressed in our suits. When it comes to the performance I will also be wearing a waistcoat when we do a costume change. We do this costume change to show how time has gone by. It was a really clever idea suggested by me. Because having a costume change is an effective way of telling the audience that time has gone by. Also we needed dan mckay (the author) to be dressed much differently to us, due to the fact he is in a completely different time period to the gang. Because he is writing the story about us.