I wrote last time about how it was performance week for the SUSU
Theatre Group November play, Great
Expectations, a show two months in the making. What I didn’t mention in my
description of the exhilaration that such a week brings is the logistical
minefield of balancing three coursework deadlines with such an additional
commitment – and the assignments were all due at the same time!
Learning the art of stage fighting was a unique and enjoyable
experience!
(Credit: www.joehart.co.uk)
And if time wasn’t short enough, to top things off a couple of my
housemates were aware of a particular house they wished to reside in next year
(a very short walk away from the Hartley Library – so suitable for 3rd
year!) going back on the market, and wanted the rest of us to set affairs in
motion to ensure we’d be next year’s tenants.
In summary: crikey!
Everybody has their own ways of dealing with the natural pressure that not
only academic life, but also student life in general, brings. Not only must you
overcome course deadlines, but also personal, extra-curricular and
self-maintenance obstacles as well, always with one eye on the future. Personally, my preferred mantra is to remain organised and move through
life “one day at a time”, listing pressing issues in order of descending priority
and simply battling my way through them in the knowledge that, ultimately,
regardless of the end result, there’s not much more you can do than your best.
Of course, the easiest way to alleviate work pressure is to complete it
as early as possible, but for a broad variety of reasons, it doesn’t always quite
work out that way! For example, two of my pieces of coursework were to be
completed in groups so, despite making solid starts to our projects beforehand,
sufficient progress could only be made throughout the week when we were
together. Therefore, the vast majority of the workload had to be done during
reasonable daytime hours, resulting in every day being packed full of meetings.
Fortunately, although time-consuming, these gatherings turned out to be
hugely productive and, when combined with a couple of late nights pooling
individual contributions, such teamwork resulted in both deadlines being met on
time, hopefully to a successful highest. When these assignments were polished,
I was able to use the extra time to meet with my housemates, view the particular
property they had in mind... and then become suitably excited about moving into
it next year!
So rather than rushing through the tasks that lay before us, which
might’ve led to us producing below-par work or making the wrong housing
decisions, each of my groups acted as teams and, collectively, did our best to
take it, however clichéd, one thought process at a time.
And that just left the small matter of a show to fit into proceedings!
With technical, dress rehearsals and performances from 6pm on Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday onwards respectively – the foremost ending at 2.30am (as
the technical crew practised the show’s 50 scene changes for the first time!) –
and huge amounts of time invested in the production previously, I knew that the
show week of Great Expectations would
be physically and mentally exhausting.
But I’m hugely privileged and grateful (particularly towards the
directorial team of Jamie Hemingway and Kerry McIntyre) to have been cast amongst
inspirational people – the cast, the directorial and production team, and the
backstage crew - who took the challenge in their stride, and, despite a couple
of early technical hitches and intense green-room (or early morning) work
sessions, pulled everything together to put on a show which garnered critical
acclaim in the Soton Tab and
attracted very healthy attendances indeed. Plus, from a personal point of view,
I received more hugs throughout the week’s showings than I’ve ever had before in
my life - because some members of the audience felt sorry for my character!
And although at times we all found keeping up with our courses a
struggle, the group’s support for one another shone through and lifted morale,
providing invaluable light-heartedness in an intense week, and hence proving motivational
in encouraging everyone to not panic and to just work our way through our
deadlines and other demands – one performance evening at a time.
We calculated that, during the course of the three hour show, Pip
(Chris Barlow) had only twenty minutes off-stage!
(Credit: www.joehart.co.uk)
From the above, you’d perhaps get the impression that I’d be keen forget
about the stress of the events. I can’t deny that I’d appreciate a slower pace
of life this time round but, upon reflection, last week was one of my most
memorable in Southampton to date, as I encountered the motivational powers of
teamwork in accomplishing difficult feats, resulting in memorable camaraderie –
and, with the occasional late night, I felt like I got the authentic ‘student
experience’!
Nothing seems quite as satisfying as feeling that, when you’ve
completed a job, it’s a job well done, and hence a hectic week stuffed with
demands like meeting multiple coursework deadlines, securing next year’s
residence, and celebrating the individual and collective achievements that Great Expectations represented (not to
mention enjoying the cast activities following every performance!) feels like a
challenge conquered and a week well spent, particularly thanks to the people
with whom I spent it.
The Great Expectations cast
photograph – I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people with which to
share the past two months!
(Credit: www.joehart.co.uk)
But most significantly last week, for me, echoed the importance of
recognising priorities, setting targets – be they academic, extra-curricular or
fulfilling other commitments or responsibilities - and, rather than becoming
overwhelmed by their demands, working through them as steadily as possible, doing
your utmost to enjoy events in order to draw the most from them that you
can.
In other words, taking life at University one day a time.
Robin
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