Site Specific (23) - Show day

We spent the entirety of today in our performance venue, working in the space and working out where is best for each scene to take place. We did our risk assessment, worked out our entrances and exits and did full runs in costume. My risk assessment is published on the previous blog, but below is what we did to adapt our version intended for "Temple Manor" to work at St Margaret's Church:

• Opening Movement Piece:   Originally we had designed this piece to be performed outside, as it presents the girls "dancing in the woods" and "conjuring the Devil". Thankfully, there was enough space within the corner of the outside walls of the church, forming a square section of grass for us to do our movement piece on. Fortunately, this section of grass was fairly level (as it is so close to the church) thus making this location ideal for this movement section as it contains a lift. The only downside with this area is that it is so close to the main road, thus we had some traffic noise, limiting our eerie and old-time setting and atmosphere we aimed to create.
• Scene One:   This scene took place just inside the church entrance. We moved a table into this area to act as a bed. By positioning the audience in the doorway, we managed to make our piece more immersive as some characters entered and exited through the audience.
• Second Movement Piece:   By setting the first scene in the entrance section, we could easily lead the audience in a straight line, behind the pews, and out the opposite door to get the area outside the back of the church. This is where we set our second movement piece. As there are no lifts in this piece and it is basically walking, we didn't need to worry so much about uneven ground. However, we did have to be careful where we were walking as there were more gravestones here. Unfortunately, our audience didn't quite go where we wanted them to, as we had intended them to stand by the door, but they dispersed a little bit. However, this worked well for this piece as it is interesting from every angle and doesn't necessarily have a front position.
• Scene Two:   Ollie and I got up first, and made our way into our performance space inside the church for the second scene so the audience could follow. This scene happened at the front of the church, on the left, to enable the audience to sit down during this scene, as it is longer than the first scene. Conveniently, there was an electric piano with a cover on which we used as a table. Just behind where we were performing, were two steps with a gate at the top that lead to another room. We used this area to represent the upstairs of the Proctor's house, making this an entrance place for Mary Warren. The entrance to the house that Hale and Cheever use was the aisle in the audience - thus making our piece more immersive.
• Scene Three:   Ollie M lead the audience from the pews they were sitting in to the benches near the alter on either side to sit behind the characters in the court. Meanwhile, I walked up to the podium and put my back to the audience and remained there until I was brought down into the scene - this was to represent me being in jail. This scene was in traverse so we had to make sure there was a lot of movement, so the characters didn't have their backs to certain audience members for the whole time. The church was an absolutely perfect location for this scene as it contained beams that the girls speak about during their accusations.
• Third Movement Piece:   At the end of the previous scene, we all storm out to where we were for the second movement piece. The audience followed us out as we all left at that point. This movement piece worked well being in the same location as the last movement piece, as this one was as a reflection of the previous one - the pieces are similar as they are both centred around Abigail, but this second one creates a contrast and presents the opposite idea. By having the two pieces in the same location helps the audience realise that the pieces are reflected.
• Scene Four:   This scene happens in the same area as the movement pieces - this is the only scene that happens outside, thus foregrounding this scene. The noise of the traffic did prove an issue during this scene, but we just added in pauses where they were needed and projected more.
• The Lord's Prayer:   This section was very effective as the audience seemed to feel uneasy when we didn't say "amen" at the end of the prayer. It made a nice conclusion to our piece as everyone was brought together in unison before Proctor was taken out and the door was shut on the audience, leaving them outside with the rest of us.