Hot-Seating is when you are asked a variety of questions and you have to answer in role. Hot-seating is used to give a better understanding for the actors and audience, so that they can learn more about the character.
I was seated in front of the class while the remainders of the class were seated in a semi-circle around me. The task then started.
- How did he abuse you?
He would constantly verbally abuse me sometimes he became so angry. Most of the time due to the drink he would hit me. But he always seemed so sorry for what he had done so that I felt that I had to forgive him. I don’t know why I did, but he was always so nice when he had not been drinking.
- Did he love you?
Yes I've always known that he loved me he just could not control his anger. It was the drink that made him turn aggressive; he just couldn’t help but drink!
- What was your relationship like?
Our relationship was very mixed. It would sometimes be full of love but could quickly change into hate. In the end, I knew that this destructive and abusive relationship could not be saved.
- Did you love him?
Yes, very much this is the reason as to why I found it so difficult to leave him, but soon enough the abuse became too much for me.
- How were you feeling on the night of when you murdered David?
Very upset and angry with the way David had been treating me it all became too much, I could no longer cope with the way David was mistreating me.
Hot-seating is important because it helps us to feel what the character is going through and we can express the emotions the character should be feeling at this point better, through this we have a better understanding and it means we can perform better because we have an idea of what it is like to be in the characters shoes.
Hot-seating improved my performance because I felt that I had a better understanding of my character and what they were going through so it enabled me to perform better. And also to give a better, genuine and more accurate portrayal of Ruth Ellis
I would improve my performance by showing more emotion and better body language, and not being so nervous due to performing on my own but I do think that hot-seating is the best way to get an accurate portrayal of the character you are performing as. I think that hot-seating improved my performance because I had a deeper understanding of the way my character would perform while on stage.
I also enjoyed asking other members of the class questions during hot-seating. Because you might hear different ideas which could help to improve your hot-seating further. It also helps you to decide who you feel is in the wrong Ruth Ellis or David Blakely. I also thought that many of the pupils performing as David Blakely through the hot-seating gave a good and useful insight to his point of views and emotions and this helped to develop my own character Ruth Ellis.
