What generally went well:
- The lighting was effective for representing Miss Horrocks changing from satisfied to angry (white wash to red wash)
- The set looked realistic as a classroom and worked well for our play
- The majority of the jokes were well received with the audience laughing throughout
- The majority of us projected well
- The songs were comical, and there were no major issues with timing.
What generally could have been better:
- The trolley and chairs were noisy when being moved
- The wheels should have been oiled, padding could be added to stop the trolley rattling and padding could have been added to the bottom of the chairs
- We didn't always stand in the spot light correctly
- We should have had more rehearsals with the lights or taped the floor
- The verse of Silent Night that we sang as adults wasn't great...
- We should have rehearsed this more to ensure we all knew the words!
- The tension built to quickly prior to Sarah Bennet's breakdown in the adult scene
- Should have had cue lines to build tension up further at different points
- At times, some members of the cast needed to be louder
- These actors should have projected more or we could have used radio microphone headsets
- The joke of the adults thinking Hope's baby doll was a real baby was lost as she clearly used the headless doll
- She should have used the other doll (which had a head attached to it!)
What I think I did well:
- I projected well so that I was audible all the time
- When I pretended to throw up it was apparently very realistic
- I think I portrayed my character well as I fiddled with my dress to show my characters age
- I used my initiative by deciding to tidy the pens away on the table (during my scene with James) to make the table easier to move. This also avoided pens falling of the table and making a noise whilst it was being moved
What I feel I could have done better:
- My costume for Jenny Bennet didn't look right as I looked older than 7 or 8 due to my bust
- I could have used breast binding tape or worn more of a frock style dress
- During my duet with Rhiannon, I was too loud as Rhiannon was quieter than I was and her part was the parody version
Cover-ups!
- The curtain wasn't open for my instructions to Robert's character so I said them from behind the curtain (which made sense as this would be what my character would do)
- Robert didn't sit on the apparatus before our duet so I changed my line to make sense in the scenario
- Robert made a mistake during our duet but he improvised and made the lyrics rhyme! Instead of singing "Hallo? No. We're only learning carols. No, you're interrupting nothing, Paul", Robert sang "No, you're interrupting nothing Paul; we are only learning those carols"
- Thankfully, I noticed that my doll's head had come off before it was supposed to, so I ensured I held the doll in a way that the head wouldn't fall to the floor too early
- Charlie stayed on the stage for too long after the birth of Jesus, but when he realised he left the stage in character and made it look as if it was supposed to happen
- I left Jesus on stage as I had to run off to find Ashley, but Hope picked it up in character during her scene with Cel. To make it look like a part of the play, she sat down next to Cel and fiddled with the doll's head!
- I didn't know where Hope had put the doll so I had to go on to the stage without it, but Katya passed me the "sheep"/wig for me to use as Jesus. Although this was not supposed to happen, this was actually very comical
If we were to do the show again...
- Have more rehearsals on the stage with lighting and in costume
- Rehearse with props from the beginning
- Get the sheet music and learn the songs properly
- If someone can't make a rehearsal, film it for them to watch in their own time
