ARTifacts review

I think my review of the IBTA year 2 girls will be a little bit different from those of a few of my peers as I was involved in the technical aspects of their play, specifically the projections. But all in all, despite my familiarity with many of the scenes and the overall concept of the play, I think everything went phenomenally. The costumes, first of all, suited the setting and individual scenes exceptionally. They were also, not to mention, really creative and well made! The viewer was able to really understand why a character was wearing his/her costume and how it related to the larger picture. The costumes were varied and distinct from one another further adding to the gravity of the designs. Now, let’s look at the set design. I know that much of the design wasn’t able to be completed to the set designer’s vision at the end, but I thought it was finished as best as it could have been. The back wall was beautiful – thank you Reca – and the octagonal shape of the stage really worked effectively with blocking. The lighting was very well done. The scene changes were evident and the lighting was able to represent the context of the different scenes well. For example, the artsy dream sequence was bright and utilized warm colors. The sound and projections, in my opinion, could have been better. Sometimes, the sounds were softer than others and the video was difficult to hear. The projections also were projected onto the screen in an awkward matter. This, I think was due to the lack of time and the fact that Solene had the main role in her play – talk about the dearth of time. All of the production elements were able to work very effectively together.

             I was able to learn many things from the experiences of the IBTA yr. 2 girls. They overcame many difficulties and I was able to learn from their mistakes. The biggest challenge they had to overcome was probably time. By the end of their 3 or 4 weeks, they did not have enough time to rehearse and perfect some of the acting and blocking. This allows our theatre class to learn that time is precious and we cannot waste it goofing around and being immature. Overall, I really enjoyed the IBTA Yr. 2 play, and I am very excited to be devising our own play next year! (Despite the hard work that lies ahead) J