Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this unit and I hope that this was reflected in my final performance “Birdland”. I really connected with Marnie in the end and hope that this was evident in my work. I think that our final performance could have been shorter and although there were a few mishaps, I hope that this was not too visible to a new audience. Poppy, who saw both our dress rehearsal and our show said that “there was a clear improvement between both performances” which made me feel a lot better about the performance I gave. With this being said, nothing is perfect and I do think I could have improved by being slightly louder still, something that I have struggled with during this process. Although I was confident in the piece, I do think I allowed the nerves to get to me as well, which is something I need to work on in the future.

As a whole, this unit has really engaged me and I have learnt a lot about new theatre from the start to the end. At the beginning of the unit, I read the book Working on a New Play. In this, Cohen, E (1995:52) states that “Instead of putting a script in the mail, a young writer might find out where readings are being held and bring his script with him.” I found this interesting as I had not really thought about how New Writers got their work noticed before and this was something that was useful to know, especially if I decide to write my own material in the future.

In the future, plan to keep myself more up to date with new writing as I realised I did not know enough about new writers very early on in the process. This helped me to engage with different pieces that I would not normally look at and has taught me not to judge plays so quickly.

Cohen, E. (1997). Working on a New Play (2nd ed., p. 52). New York: Limelight Editions.