UCAS report

Although I have already applied for Universities, I am still contemplating whether I still want to attend. This is due to finances and family related issues which I prefer not to say. However, the location of the Universities I have chosen are easy access through a train route as I live 30 seconds away from an Underground station. The Universities I have applied for are the University of East London, Central Saint Martins - UAL - University of Arts London and the Central School of Speech and Drama. The reasons why these were chosen and I am still contemplating about LAMDA, a Drama School I have always wanted to attend, is because the reviews are amazing and I have been to their open days - their facilities are amazing. And the staff are incredibly polite and that is the sort of environment I would like to surround myself with. They all encourage you to just be yourself and I am excited to audition for all of them. I am already preparing monologues for them.

Although having monologues is already a start, having at least another classical and a modern monologue can help secure your essentials for the audition as it shows the judges that you are well prepared. In addition some drama schools may ask for you to sing so having a few songs prepared may be a good decision to make just in case they do.  

When first deciding a monologue, you need to consider on how it impacts you as this makes it easier for you to extract the reasons on why you had chosen this purposefully. Once all monologues are obtained, first of all, you need to annotate it. For example, label specific words or phrases you want to emphasise and in brackets put an emotion or action/gesture you may want to accompany the part with. You may also want to consider the 6 W’s: Who are you? When are you? Where are you? Why am I here? What do you want? What will I do to achieve my want? Using these questions to break down the scene can help contribute to your character development and to allow yourself to relate to the character with your own interpretations. It may also be wise to watch your monologues performed online to give you a slight idea of how to portray that character.

Skills Audit

So far, reflecting on myself for the past year has made me realise that you need to be able to take rejection and you most likely might not get the role you want all the time. In addition I have been able to take it but nit as lightly although I have experienced it a lot since I did both music and drama in secondary school. However, over this past year, I have no obtained more skills such as breaking down a script, how to set up a work shop and also I have built a lot of confidence when performing. One key factor that I have definitely improved on was slowing down the speed of my talking and diction in that matter. My diction was not the best before as I did a lot of song writing with rapping for music. This past year has definitely benefited me with the way I speak to not only myself but my family too. Other strengths I have is that I like to connect to people especially through my hobbies with music, which has been mentioned and other endeavors such as magic tricks, Rubik's cube and motivational speaking. They have allowed me to connect with many different types of people along withe confidence I have gained from acting.

Peter Pan Evaluation

Taking it back to the very beginning, we had been introduced to Peter Pan by discussing about it when given the scripts first hand and everyone was wondering what character that they may have been chosen for. We had then watched the Disney movie interpretation of Peter Pan to give us an idea of what our production plot may turn out to be like. Since I have seen this version so many times, I already had a clear image on how it may have panned out. At first I wanted to be a Lost Boy since it was all about having fun and about a journey having to find a Mother with the Leader Peter Pan. But as time went on, I was advised to at least give it a shot at auditioning for Peter Pan since an audition was required as for one good practice for University and Drama School and two, was to determine who was suitable for a particular role.

In result of this, I decided to research an appropriate monologue and song as if I wanted a main role, in this case Peter Pan, I had to choose a song to show case my vocals and if they were good enough for the role. The monologue I had chosen was a short extract from a list of short monologues from Peter Pan as I thought that if I had chosen a monologue as Peter Pan himself it may have given the panel a better idea of what I may have looked like if I had gotten the role. In the end, after a week a so, the roles were revealed and in conclusion, I got the part of Peter Pan. I also knew some people who wanted to get specific other roles but were left disappointed with theirs, but others were happy. In the end, when it comes to acting, not everyone is going to get the role they auditioned for, it is just how the industry works. Then we got to work straight away on the script, firstly splitting in to different groups - Act 1, Lost Boys and Pirates. With the Act 1 group, where I was based, the stage and audience type were discussed. Originally, we all wanted the audience to be in front, but over the next couple of weeks, it was discovered that we were going to have a  three way audience. Personally, although I have never performed on a three way audience stage before, it opened a door for whole new experience.

Rehearsal at the beginning was not as common at the start of the production which I wish was as this lead to many problems that were luckily avoided at the end. However, this was due to devising and other pieces of work that needed attending to such as essays. Although the choreography was great for a start and the ideas of what should be done on stage at a particular time was creative, the first scene took way too long in my opinion as it gave hardly any time to rehearse the last scenes which forced students to come in on days off as the rehearsal time was getting tighter. One scene that kept getting skipped for some reason was the Marooner's Rock scene, which we had on rehearsed a total of just six times with constant stopping was one scene where we had to keep making constant changes. However it did end up to be one of the funniest scenes throughout the whole play as the actors in the scene were great, especially Panashe and Jireh. And personally, with all the fighting scenes that Jamie and I had, I am so proud of since we both took the time to choose what to do and to make it our own with the help of Panashe to refine it.

Feeding off the rehearsal, the stage equipment did act as a hazard sometimes due to the fact that the only exit from the window was behind the musicians and they were placed next to a sheet where if touched too often could get damaged. This sheet had to be opened to show the flying scene that was filmed earlier by green screen which was an awesome new experience for me I have to say. In addition to the hazard of the stage, some times when the black out struck, it was very difficult to see where the corner of the stand was and a couple of people, including myself, hit the side of the stage. Along with the health and safety of the placement of objects, since the platform in the centre of the stage covered quite a large area, underneath would get quite dusty which would often spread around, I found it quite annoying when it was not cleaned often as many people, like myself, were performing in bare feet. Other than that, the props and the costumes took way too long to obtain. Only a week before did most of the cast get theirs where as mine, along with Brunilda, Chris, Tashan and Madeline, were done around the first few weeks due to the green screen which was clearly unfair on the others. 

The songs given to me were a whole new experience and memory lane in one play. The songs were Young and Heart and Come Fly with Me by Frank Sinatra which were two fun songs to sing. For Good from Wicked, which I have seen was a challenge for me since it tested my harmonies but also allowed me to build a real connection with Madeline as the roles of Wendy and myself Peter Pan. I also then performed When You Believe from the Prince of Egypt and I'll be there by Jackson 5 which were both huge memories for me since I was child so they both felt amazing to sing.

There is one problem that concerned me. When it came to Jamie breaking his sword by accident, nothing was done to mend it and it took the students to think of an idea  to fix it instead of having to buy a new one ourselves. However, another thing that annoyed me so much was messing about in rehearsal time a little too much and attendance. Although it was fun to have a laugh in rehearsal, some times were not the right time to do so and attendance? Well if we all aspire to be good in the field of our passions, we all do need to attend and to be on time since we all are working collectively as an ensemble. And one example of stupidy was the fact that organising the bows took way too long since no one knew who belonged with the groups set, should there be separate bows and so on.

Finally, the performances arrived. Peter Pan on a three was stage was awesome since we could surprise the audience for one, and another, it gave the actors many more ways to separate and to bring/take props for two. The live band was amazing, the lighting and stage smoke was a great mix and the whole production improved more gradually the next performance after the other. I had a great time taking on the role of Peter Pan and if you hear "COCADOOLADOO", that's me as Peter Pan.

Peter Pan Research

What is the plot of Peter Pan?

It is about a boy lives in Neverland with his followers, the Lost Boys. He then encounters Wendy and her family (the Darlings) in the time based around Victorian England where boys were expected to be traditional English gentlemen when they grew up. However, Peter did not want to become one and in result he is in search of a mother to help him cater to the Lost Boys. In Neverland, Wendy and Peter live with the Lost Boys, who are constantly under attack from the pirate, Captain James Hook. When Hook captures Peter's friends, he seeks revenge on the pirate and drives him to jump off his ship into the mouth of a crocodile. Wendy and her brothers return to the real world, where their family adopts the Lost Boys. Peter, unwilling to grow up, remains in Neverland, watching sadly as Wendy ages and loses the ability to fly as well.

Where did Peter Pan originate?

Peter Pan was originally created by Scottish and playwright J. M. Barrie. Peter Pans first appearance was in a section of The Little White Bird (1902) as a seven-day-old baby in the chapter entitled Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Following the success of the 1904 play, Barrie's publishers, Hodder and Stoughton, extracted chapters 13–18 of The Little White Bird and republished them in 1906 under the title Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
Peter Pan then made it to the stage on the 27th of December 1904 which debuted in London with the titles of Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. Barrie then later decided to adapt this and expanded the storyline, and the book was published in 1911 with the name Peter and Wendy.

Different Adaptations?

As Peter Pan on the stage for more than a century, there have been many variations of different interpretations of the title, including films. On such title was The Peter Pan Picture Book written by Daniel O’Connor in 1907, which was based on the original stage play in 1904 although equipped with many differences to Barrie’s 1911 adaptation with changes to the original stage play in the novel Peter and Wendy. In addition, films were also mediums to allow even more adaptations to be created such as Peter Pan directed by P. J. Hogan (2003), Walt Disney's Peter Pan released in February 1953 and Peter Pan by Paramount Pictures (1924), an authorised silent movie adaptation.

Was Peter Pan ever a Pantomime?

Although the original stage play was not a Pantomime, there have been a couple of adaptations made in to that type of theatre. But first of all, what is a Pantomime? It is entertainment which involves music, jokes and slapstick comedy typically aimed towards the younger audience which our script is based upon. Pantomimes such as the current hit in the National Theatre, Peter Pan and Peter Pan Goes Wrong, both only recently hit the stage in 2016.

Purpose why Peter Pan was written?

It is said that Barrie moved to London to pursue his interest in becoming a play right when he came across the Llwelyn Davies boys who inspired him to write  "Peter Pan" otherwise known as "The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up". It also was said to be from a book within a book as in Barrie's Little White Bird written in 1902, he is briefly mentioned.

As I played Peter Pan in my production, I had watched many clips of different adaptation of his character and many of the versions portrayed him as a charming young boy who was sometimes full of himself such as the film in 2003.. The main factor that stuck out of his character was that he was very scared of growing up and scared of Mothers and Fathers in general. 

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan
https://www.enotes.com/topics/peter-pan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan_(1953_film)