Final Performance - Brief Analysis

Monday 3rd + Wednesday 5th July

One example where I think we were successful in using Berkoff's style was in the section where the Woman describes answering the door to find the boy's mother outside (picture below). In this section of choreography we used synchronized and enlarged group movement to mime opening a door and also used exaggerated facial expressions to show her reaction. As well as this, we punctuated the dialogue with staccato, defined actions accompanied by vocal sound effects, similar to what we learned from doing 'East'. I think that this was an effective use of a number of Berkoff's techniques that aided the storytelling of the dialogue and create visual humor and emphasis for the audience at the same time.

However, I would also say that personally I think I missed some opportunities in my performance to fully create the physical and exaggerated character that is central to Berkoff's performance style. Due to the more subdued nature of my character as the 'maternal' side of the Woman, I feel like I lost some of the vocal energy and physicality of this style at some points and that would be something I would work on and add to if we were to do this piece again.

Link: https://youtu.be/JWzDmB3l8kM