Faustus Rehearsal Process June 14th

Thursday 14th June 2012

Today we experimented with the masks that Ellie had made for our various sins and tried to see what the different scenes would look like with these masks. The first scene we tried was with the 7 deadly sins and how that would like. As we had the masks on people didn't feel like they were restricted within their character so they played with different charcteristics and a different way of moving and interacting with each other within the space. The scene worked really well with the masks and added a different element to each character and brought something new to the scene that wasn't there before. I think it benefited a lot of people and made their characters a lot stronger and gave them something to work with that they had never thought of before.

The next scene we worked on was the pope scene using different masks to the sins, again as we went through the scene, new things were created that we had never thought of before. It added something new to the scene and brought it to life, giving it more comedy but as the scene progresses there is that contrast to what is really going on, that the pope can't see which is what makes it quite a shockin scene to watch. As such a religious and well respected figure is basically getting tormented and humiliated by devils.

Ellie had these skull masks for us to use in the party scene, as we are cheering Faustus on the whole time and showing so much appreciation, that when we turn around you just see a group of people with skull faces. Which is quite a disturbing image as you really do think what is behind the intentions of people, are they for good or for evil. It may look to Faustus like Hell is going to be a fun time, but once he's there its not like that at all. He's being sold something that isn't really there, simply just created from his mind as the what he wants to believe really exists.We then decided to use the masks in the next performance as they have given everyone something new to work with and that fresh feeling as if were performing the scenes for the first time.

Today's performance went even better than yesterdays, even though we had that boost of confidence from the night before we still had to maintain that discipline and perform just as well, as if we'd never done it before. I think you can really see how much progress each and everyone of us has made and yet you dont even really feel like you have until you look back to where we were at the start of the year to now.
We have all worked really hard to get Faustus to where it is and I am very pleased with how the show turned out and what is has become.

I need to take on board everything I have learned through this whole rehearsal process and apply it to future productions, not doubting my talent and have the confidence to not let it hold me back. I think I know I am good at comedy and that it is something I want to persue in the future but i think it's how the audience will react to me is what holds me back and if they are going to find what I do funny. I know its going to be a continuous battle that I am going to have to deal with for my entire life but that is going to stop me from doing what I love.