Evaluation of the Performance of Hedda Gabler

To enable my actors voices to travel within the university theatre I chose to do a set of vocal warm exercises prior to the exam, this was in our favour as we were one of the first groups to perform.

The performance itself was enjoyable to watch as a director as I knew that the actors knew what they were doing. They both embodied the characters well and used all the character work they had worked on during the rehearsal period. Both actors really went for it during the performance and they received laughs from the audience where we wanted them to laugh. This was due to the fact that we worked continuously on lines and their meaning so that we could bring them to life.

As well as this the proxemics enabled the actors to highlight the awkwardness within the scene which added to the comedy. I think the actors were grateful that they had a director as it was clear when watching others performed that everyone needed someone to step back and highlight what could be improved and worked on.

The one thing that could have been worked on more in-depth is the character voice as both actors voices were lost in some parts of the scenes. I believe this was down to nerves however it did not effect the entire performance as a whole.

1 on 1 with Ellie - 25th April

This was to be our final rehearsal before the performance on 29th April. I was confident with what Chess was doing but made Ellie come to university for an hour so we could work on her diction and stage voice.

At first I recorded her normally saying the lines and then I played it back to her. This way she spotted for herself what we meant about losing the end of her lines and how soft her voice was.

I asked her if she had ever done singing lessons before and she said that she had, therefore I told her to use her diaphragm to help support her voice when she is performing. We did a few breathing exercises to get her working her diaphragm and then I asked her to warm her face up with stretches. Through this process I could immediately see how telling her to use her diaphragm to project had helped and I made her over enunciate her words so that the ends of them were not lost.

I filmed her once again and it was amazing how in just half an hour she had changed her diction and tone completely. It was then that I noticed we had to have a vocal warm up before both of them perform. Therefore I said that I wanted them to be both in an hour before the performances started to have a warm up and run the scene through a few times.

I made sure that both Ellie and Chess were confident in what they were doing as we were not going to be able to rehearse again all together until the day.

Performance in Class Time 22nd April

Unfortunately due to other commitments I had not been able to meet up with the girls prior to their performance in front of the class before their exam the next week. I bought in a variety of props for them so that the class could see how the scene runs and how naturalistic the scene is.

During the performance I noted that Ellie's stage voice was very quiet and especially quiet if in the following week we were to perform in the university theatre. Compared to Chess I could not hear what Ellie was saying and realised that we had to work on her diction as well as her tone and pitch.

I think that the actors were fairly nervous when performing but they did not need to be as we had rehearsed so many times before. The blocking needed to be looked over as it was quite clumsy and the moments in which they drink their tea to highlight the awkward silences needed to be changed.

As a general viewpoint though I still felt that the actors could really give more to their characters so I told them that I really want to see jealousy from Hedda and I want to see the desperation when Mrs Elvstead is talking about her husband and her admiration for Lovbourg.

Once again due to timetable clashes I would only be able to work 1 on 1 with Ellie to perfect her stage voice. I told Chess that I want her to go back over the character parallels and re visit the lines with it again.

Rehearsal Sunday 14th April

This was our first rehearsal since the Easter break however, I could tell that both girls had really worked on their lines and built their characters further. They were a lot more comfortable in the role so I felt confident when they were performing it.

I still felt as though their gestures were a little lazy and the scene was dull without them so I stopped them whenever I felt this and made them start again. This was a good technique as I began to see the evil intent in Hedda's eyes and the vulnerability and desperation in Mrs Elvstead. To highlight Hedda's malicious mind set I decided to make Ellie stir the tea whilst she was asking Mrs Elvstead questions; it was a metaphor for stirring trouble up.

Overall I felt that the actors had really progressed over the Easter break and I felt confident with them performing. However, in the class the next day they wanted to perform the week after to give themselves an extra advantage and find out what we had to work on in the following week.

Rehearsal 24th March

This was our last rehearsal before Easter and it was important to let the actors know what I wanted from them after Easter. We created a props list and split the cost of everything that we needed to get equally. As well as this I told them the style of costume I wanted them to bring back with them.

For Hedda: Long skirt with heeled boots, ruffled shirt with long sleeves and possibly a corset underneath. It was very important to also highlight that Ellie would need to tie her hair back due to the period in which this scene was set.

For Mrs Elvstead: Long skirt with flat boots, shirt with a plain black cardigan on and due to Chess's posture I definitely wanted her in a corset. Mrs Elvstead would not have been seen as the same social class as Hedda as she married into an already well to do family. Mrs Elvstead was her husbands mistress however his wife got taken sick and so Mrs Elvstead then became mother to her step-children. I want this to show not only through the acting but show through costume too. Her costume will not be as smart as Hedda's.

As the holidays were three weeks long I wanted the actors to have learnt their lines by the time we got back and this was so that we could introduce props into the scene.

Rehearsal 17th March

I was much happier this week with the feedback that we received from the class. It was clear that the actors had worked exceptionally hard but there were a few minor things that we needed to work on before the Easter break.

For example; Chess was told that her posture needs to improve so therefore I told her to go away from the rehearsal room and pretend that their was a piece of string holding her from the top of her head and stretching her out. As well as this I told the actors that I wanted them to wear corsets underneath their costumes. Not only would this make it more naturalistic it would also naturally help their posture especially when sitting down.

It was said that the tension was still not all there so I felt like the actors needed to let go. It could have been due to the fact that they were nervous however, I knew that they could really highlight the awkwardness not only through the lines but through their bodies too.
When Hedda realises that she used to pick on Mrs Elvstead I wanted this moment to be humorous yet quite awkward. Therefore after Mrs Elvstead states that Hedda said she would burn her hair off I made Ellie dramatically laugh it off. Just as when Hedda gets Mrs Elvstead's name wrong. Being the character with the higher authority but getting things wrong is not something that Hedda would normally do however, under the awkward tension she is. It was important to highlight this as I believe that this play can get a few laughs from the audience even though it is said to be a tragedy.

Rehearsal 10th March

After a performance in class I was asked to work and push the actors on the tension within the scene. With that in mind we ran the scene a few times so I could make notes and during this time I really felt like they were not letting go.

Due to this I made each of them sit alone and come up with an emotional parallel to every line that they speak. I wanted them to think about gesture, emotion and tone in their voice to make it more believable. I wanted for Ellie to make Hedda a lot more malicious in her ways and for Chess to create Mrs Elvstead to be naïve and vulnerable.

After this they both came back together and let go of any inhibitions that they once had towards the script. At first they did not want to do it as they were hesitant on letting go of their emotions, however with the strong emotional parallels it made the tension clearer which is what we needed for our scene.

Due to the era of the play women did have to be a lot more reserved in their manners so making them give it all in the rehearsal room was a good way of naturally getting gestures and emotion and then we could draw them back in and make them more subtle. It is easier for an actor to withdraw than it is to let go.