Unit 4: Discussion with the “Hamilton” cast


     1. What did you find out about the background of the production?
          Background, context, characters, themes etc.
 
     First of all, I found out that those people standing in front of us were ordinary people who didn’t stop chasing their dream. At the beginning I didn’t know about this play, but I was happy that 4 actors  came to us to share their thoughts, ideas and story with us. This way I found out that we are so much alike: they are shy too, they forget lines too, at some points they didn’t trust themselves  and that they had a long way behind their success.
    They are so different: the main actress is from Philippines, another actor has a wife and two kids, another actor doesn’t share much information about his personal life and still, they are so united when it comes to acting, to this show.
    At the meeting I found out the play’s subject and we saw a video with the show’s intro and I could see something was happening there, this show was different from what I’ve seen.
     They told us it was about history, about love, about selfishness, about forgiveness and not least, about feelings expressed through music, because this a musical, after all.
   
     2. What did you learn about the skills required to be part of the production? You could refer to your own initial skills audit.

     After this discussion I found out how much I have to work on me, on my skills to get where I want. Still, one of the most important skills required to be part of the production is perseverance. They had so much auditions and the main actress found out that she was casted after one year from the auditions. Of course, you need to be a very very very good actor and I have a complex definition for it in my head, but if you keep chasing your goal and all you do is towards it, then you have to make it.
     I feel like I have the main qualities , if I can call them this way, but as I said, nothing is more important than work.

    3. What did you find out about the challenges of working as a performer in the industry?

    I found out that there is a lot of mental and emotional work. In order to succeed in the world, you have to succeed in your mind, first.
   After listening to them talking about their bad auditions, their lack of confidence, about their busy schedule and not enough time to eat sometimes, about dealing with other things in their life, as family  and how they make time for it, about how on the stage you have to teamwork (the main actress once forgot her line and the other actors covered for her), about playing a show maybe twice a day, every day and how you need to be willing to do “sacrifices” for art.

    4. How can this inform your own approach to your training?

    This gave me a clearer vision, showed me that it is possible and that the success gets closer and closer. I need to don’t stop, I need to act professional and to treat everything serious.

           
                     
                            “Hamilton” performance

    1. What techniques were used to tell the story of “Hamilton”? How clearly did the production and its narrative, structure and characters communicate the historical context of the story and how did they update it for a modern audience?

    The actors sang about Hamilton and acted physically. They introduces some lines too, but they were a few. The structure was diversified, they introduced slow motions and inner monologues. In my opinion, the characters did communicate the old historical context of the story; the clothing was the closest thing to the past, the objects used on stage, the scenery and the language linked the story to that period too. The modern thing in this show and their way to update it is the music. The r&b and pop sound had a big impact on the audience and somehow connected the story to the present, breaking the barrier then and now.

     2. How successful were the performances in the production - were there any ‘stand out’ characters? What made their performance special?

     There were stand out characters, like Hamilton or Eliza, because they were the main characters, but there weren’t any stand out actors. It didn’t matter who an actor was playing as long as they played it so good. Everyone was important even though they had no lines, because they were truly acting and their energy could be felt and without one of them the show would have something missing.
   
     The actors made that world a part of their reality, where they can flee whenever they rehearse or perform and now, that is what I call acting. They gave life to that story and they did it so well.

     3. How did the audience respond to the work at different points? How successful was communication between the audience and the performers?

     Different characters used to have their own part performing a song or more; after each part the audience was cheering and I could see everyone was having fun, especially after the rap and r&b.
     The actors really connected with the crowd, because, even though their way of acting was to exaggerate a little with the characters’ way of being they stayed truthful to the story and they travelled through real emotions in front of us.
     At the end, I cried. But not because of the sad ending, but because I didn’t know another way of telling myself and showing them (if they saw me) how good it was and how impressed I was about what I saw for a few hours.