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Our B Bunkum Theatre performance was a very difficult project to undertake. We were put under a great deal of stress to complete and make our performance great. It was all put together In Just a few short weeks and there was a great deal of tension during rehearsals. Bunkum Is a Japanese puppet production and we made It our own. Our story was about an autistic teenage boy killing his best friend In a moment of rage and confusion. It was quite a deep story.
The audience seemed very in to it and really seemed to enjoy it. At points when the narrators were yelling, the audience to a bit frightened, which was the tension we wanted the room to feel. Considering they were eighth graders, I think we did well. My role in our Bunkum performance was co-director with Varian. A director takes on a variety of jobs. We worked with the producer, actors and designers (set, costume, make-up and lighting). If something goes wrong, it is your job to fix it.
For our story to take place, we had to assign many various roles- Director, puppeteers, musicians, chanter/narrator, lighting, set design, puppet makers, props, script writer, producer and someone to cast people. All tasks were difficult and taken with great responsibility. The greatest challenge of being a director was getting people to focus and getting the right amount of effort out of them. Since we spent long hours rehearsing, people were tired and frustrated a lot, so having to yell and tell them what to do.
Lots of notes were taken because actors, narrators and musicians forgot cues, tempo and the effort they had to put in so we had to tell them how to improve. It was a lot of stress because Varian and I had to find music, have a vision of what the stage should look like, tell the puppeteers how to move the puppets and the emotion they had to portray. As the director, it is your responsibility that people are on track and know what they are doing. You must be aware of what everyone Is doing and make sure they do It right.
You have to understand what consequences it brings if you are not able to cope with the struggle of being a director and manage all the different people Involved in the production. We were put under a great amount of pressure because we only had three weeks to prepare and somehow make everything come together. I think the fact of us being under pressure like this made us work more efficiently and benefited us in the end. We worked extremely hard for many hours a day trying our best to put together a great performance. This was a big part of our B Theatre grade and we were determined to do the best we could.
We all had important roles in this and despite there being a great deal of stress, yelling and panicking, we worked well together and had fun. Being co-director, I enjoyed being in charge and in control of what should happen for the production. Having your vision of the production seen on stage is an enjoyable thing because you feel what you have suggested and contributed made the production worth watching and being a part of. It is fun to work with everyone and seeing the production played out and It makes you happy to see everyone working so hard and putting In a lot of effort, even If they are tired.
I was quite satisfied with how the performance went and what I contributed to It. Seeing the performance at Its best and knowing it is finally over and you do not have to stress or work so hard at I was scared it would be a disaster, but it turned out much better than I could have hoped, all because of the amount of hard work we all did. It was difficult being a director and I think I did a good Job considering how little time we had. We all took his project very seriously and really wanted it to be great. I have definitely leaned a lot from this project.
I was not aware of this great amount of stress and responsibility it was putting together a performance. Giving that this was a small performance I can only imagine what it is like to put together a high-end show. I now understand the hard effort and long hours you have to put in. However, it was not Just hard work, it was also a lot of fun and Joking around. We had fun during rehearsals and you really get to know people after spending hours with them. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and would love to do it again.