I survived the second!

Well, I have finished my second year at university. I survived! There have been so many times over the last two academic years when I thought I wasn't going to make it. And I must admit this year had left me wrecked, emotionally and physically. But I made it. Still waiting for one more grade from the last module of the year, but that won't be through until at least next month.

So now what? Rest! Relaxation! Recovery! I need these things. At the end of June I'll be going back to Crete, and I'll be there for around 5 months because the first module of third year is our self-motivated study abroad module. My project will be a creative writing one, inspired by the senses of Crete. But enough about that. We're not allowed to start until the middle of September, when the academic year starts. Until then, summer is going to be about chilling out. I will probably not be going out socialising in the evenings as much as usual, I really do need to recover. So a lot of my time will be spent reading in the sun & practising ukulele. No open mic nights for me this year though, my confidence is shot. I don't know how I managed it last year! Getting a First in my performance module helped my confidence a little, but not enough. It's going to be a long road to build it up again. Hopefully the Cretan sun will help.

Anyway, one more grade to come. This is for the research module that involved a portfolio and a short performance. I spoke of it in my last blog post. I didn't have any photos, but one of my coursemates took one during the setting up, while the lights were being sorted. It gives an idea of how things looked. I'm the shadow behind the screen! I'm still undecided about whether to post my performance text here. I'm still thinking about it. It's quite personal after all.

Right, I'm off to rehearsal. Yes I know I said I've finished my year! I have agreed to be in someone's third year show. He has based it on a project a group of us created last year and has built on it, so when he asked if I'd be in it I agreed. It really is a gorgeous piece, based on light. It takes place on Tuesday evening, which happens to be my birthday. Ah well, it's not the first time I've been on stage on my birthday!

Performances and Portfolios

Anyone who knows me in real life or on Facebook will know that I've had a particularly awkward module at university. We've all been worried about it, but yesterday was performance day, and going by what I saw from my coursemates I don't think they have anything to worry about. The module was entitled The Performer as a Real Person. Some of us worked in groups, some of us worked alone. There was a wide range of strong performances yesterday, using autobiographical theatre, verbatim theatre, and immersive theatre. Theatre based on truth. Based on real words and feelings.

I chose to work alone, and did a piece of autobiographical theatre about how isolating it can feel to have Asperger Syndrome. I must admit I found it hard, and during the initial writing process I did get rather depressed. The good thing about my course though is that we are all supportive of each other and encouraging. And I had a small group who promised to cheer me up when I was feeling particularly depressed. One particularly funny thing was the collage. One of my friends, after reading it, said I may have been using the word 'but' too often and that I should think about editing some of them out to make the piece run smoother, She said that as encouragement she would make me a collage for every 'but' that I took out. I removed six. And this was the result:

The Butt Collage! One butt for every but! This certainly made me laugh! With my friends around I couldn't stay depressed for long. Thanks guys, if you read this. It was very much appreciated! You rock!

Once I was over the writing and editing, and on to the staging and scenography, I found things much easier. I decided to do it in the form of a shadow show, to highlight the feelings of separation. I don't have a photo, as I was performing it, but imagine a screen at the back of the stage. One lone spotlight shines from behind the screen, showing the shadow of a woman sitting alone, writing in her diary. I spoke the text as though they were my thoughts, an internal dialogue with myself as I wrote. I don't yet know what the marking tutor thought, but I had some good feedback from my peers.

Now all that remains to be done is to finish writing the portfolio that is to go with the performance to be graded. I have almost finished. I just need to create some diagrams of staging etc. I could actually probably finish it tonight if I wasn't procrastinating by doing this! Once the portfolio has been handed in, I have unofficially finished my second year. The academic year doesn't actually finish until the middle of June, but we have no more work to do after hand-in on Monday. I still can't believe I'm at the end of my second year!

I may post my text from the performance in another blog post if people are interested. I wrote it myself, from my own feelings and experiences.