The Second Week (4th - 11th April)

In the second week of our project, we continued our research and any independent studies and met to share our ideas.

On Wednesday (the 6th of April), Pagan James and I were occupied by a community project. We were in separate groups playing music to primary school children to introduce them to new sounds and forms of expression. As a result, we couldn’t complete any FMP work that day.

The Thursday did allow us time to work. We had a second meeting with Dan Fox (theatre technician) to discuss the screen and materials further and gain contacts for suppliers. We also got a date booked for experimenting with the screen and lighting in the theatre, the 29th of April. We did change our concept for holding the screen though. We now will use two ‘wings’ on either side of the stage to conceal props from the audience and display information, the likes of hotlines, etc. The screen will then be stapled to the ‘wings’ and pulled tautly. If the screen should sag in the middle, a rope or bar can be run along the top or middle of the screen to provide structure.

On Friday I met with my tutor, Alex Gordon, to discuss how the project was going so far, and create a plan for areas I need to work on over easter.

The plan:

[08/04/2022 09:40] Alex Gordon:

· Practice routine- work on FMP material- wish you were here- looping and developing lead work- advanced solo construction and expression

· Research – Multi-rolling, David Gilmour

· Writing- remaining song, songwriting, bring forward storyboarding/the first draft of script into easter break

· Wix- add pages/organise and develop theme/presentation link Alex to Insta/Wix

· Blog- always refer to evidence areas and proposal form

· Write up the meeting with dan

· Timetable- weekly -adapt from the action plan and explain

We used the IT room to continue updating/building our websites and discuss the progress we’ve made thus far. We also met with Nancy Nicklin, a textiles tutor, to test some fabrics and gather contacts for suppliers as well, “Doughty’s” fabric shop currently has what we need in stock.

The community project (primary school shows) was an interesting experience, as we haven't played to that demographic before. I felt I learnt new skills regarding audience interaction, but also about considering the needs of our audience more (e.g. the setlist - songs needed to be suitable).

Thursday's work was extremely helpful in the planning and execution of our plan, as we now have potential dedicated rehearsal spaces that can meet our space requirement and a detailed understanding of the construction of our stage.

The one-to-one will my tutor (Alex Gordon) was another helpful session as it allowed me to explain the project and our plan again, further solidifying my understanding of our goals. We identified examples of areas I can work on individually, but also the time management aspects: bringing forward the scriptwriting would be beneficial as we can write a detailed story, but rehearse it sooner as well.

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Looking back to last week, the outlined problem was our drifting from the schedule. We had a group meeting after this discovery, and if we compare this week's work to the main timetable (see post), we can see we have stuck to this week's goals. I'm glad to see we are back on track so soon after the problem arose. Communication was the solution.

Reflecting on this week, I can see that we have met our goals, so determining a problem with our work is more challenging. However, over easter, we need to be proactive, as not getting enough done will add unnecessary pressure during the latter stages of the project. So, my next goal would be to work over Easter, using our communication networks to arrange meetings and share ideas (e.g. purchasing the fabric from "Doughty's" as soon as possible).