Gary Willis- Acting Auditions and Monologues.

Guardian

Character Analysis

What makes a character engaging and compelling is when theirs a lot of small details that the character portrays which captures the audience attention because it makes the audience conjure up questions as to why the characters acts the way he/she does, whats the reason for his gestures, body language. they start to think of explanations for their actions from their own point of view. a un-engaging character is one who's details, body language and thought process, is not clear enough for the audience to understand or not apparent at all which wont keep the audience wanting to understand and gain retention for that particular characters ways.

DEVELOPMENT 1

English boy is sitting in his office going through his documents and emails, whilst simultaneously receiving and sending texts to his friends regarding drinks after work. hes rather distant to the assignments of his current project and focusing much greater on the news he was given by his close-friend Linda. He feels quite alert from his morning boost of espresso to fire up his engines, hes wired, and consciously energetic from both the coffee and the news. His compulsory attire of a pinstripe suit, windsor knot, Hugo boss belt, Just Cavali Slacks and bright red socks which he considers are his ‘Pulling’ socks which he only wears in the interest of going for a drink after work. due to the cold groggy weather he also is wearing a Grey scarf and Jet black trench coat which has been discarded to his coat hanger next to his desk. hes constantly refreshing his emails to see if his important email has come through, he starts to get quite impatient and twitchy which is more defined by the esspresso and release of endorphin because of the news. He mumbles under his breath saying ‘  “c’mon, this could be my lucky break”.  he has the radio on to a low volume playing 1980’s tracks because he believes ever since then no good music has been released.

to his excitement the email came through, his eyes light-up like a boy opening his presents on christmas day. He opens the email and his eyes scan the page for important information before reading it thoroughly. He looks satisfied and content, his body language is now more sublte and takes a deep breath which he lets out slowly indicating that must of been a huge load of thoughts he just excreted.

Development 2

Inside the character

Inside his Purse: £80 in notes, a picture of his mother, £9 in loose change, his bank card ( Barclays) His personal card, Drivers licence ( which he hasn't used in 3 years because he doesnt have a car) Starbucks loyalty card, subway loyalty card

Inside his shopping trolley: bread, butter,,milk,  vegetables, sci-fi DVD, biscuits, bottled water, instant coffee, hair conditioner, pack of mints,

Inside his briefcase: documents, laptop, personal pen and pad

Character questionnaire

Name: James Cleverley

Nickname: English Boy

His ex-girlfriend gave him the nickname because of his posh accent and she was of american descent. The most noticeable characteristic towards james appearance is the scar on the right side of his temple which came from a rugby injury. he wears his scar as if it was a badge of honor, he feels it gives him more of a “dangerous man” look and he likes to tell the story of how he got it when asked. his voice is slightly deep, Repton school boys accent, he sounds relatively posh, like prince William, yet due to his increasing stay near south London the poshness has been toned down. but he still sounds like a member of the conservative.  his most favorite words are bollocks and discombobulated. Bollocks because he likes the way it rolls of the tounge and its versatility to be used in conversations and discombobulate because in his terms sounds ‘Barking schnarking mad’ and when he says it people stare at him funny which often amuses his twisted sense of humor.

He lives in Dulwich, south london. The village is very conservative and safe. there are a lot of Victorian built houses with beautiful old architecture and open fields. it seems like a place where the royal family would come for a walk. the residence is mostly old people in there sixties upwards. he lives in newly built flat right next east Dulwich train station. his flat is very spacious with decor and furniture from Ikea, he favours the colours of black and white for furniture and is very fond of new gadgets, 52 inch screen t.v, games consoles and a apple Imac on his desk with loads of articles surrounding the desk on the walls all written by himself. he feels very proud of his home and keeps it clean at all times because of how he was brought up which was to keep on top of household duties. he previously lived in Shoreditch Hackney but due to the rising rent bills he moved to dulwich. his favourite part of his home is his desk, he loves putting up new articles hes written, cutting them out of the newspaper and framing them if its a headline or sticking it on the wall with bluetack if its a standard article. his collection of articles takes up a 3rd of his wall space. his least favourite place in his home is the kitchen which remains spotless and seemingly unused because he hardly cooks. he feels asif the kitchen belongs to women but hes currently single so hes forced to to spend his precious time preparing meals. james dreams of being in the army, shooting porn scenes, flying and past girlfriends. His mother (Julie Cleverley) 48 and his father (Paul Cleverley) died at the age of 52 from a stroke. he has 2 aunties and 1 uncle all from his mothers side and 7 cousins.  hes very close to his mother and keeps contact with her every other day and quite distant from his cousins who of which are mostly younger although he does have 2 older cousins who he hates with a passion. he was close to his father and mourns his death every so often. it hurts him more especially on his birthday March 23rd as his father died on this day whilst he was at work. His parents were relatively wealthy and were considered as upper-class. his ethnic group is Mixed White, his father was mixrace black with descendants from Trinidad and Tobago and his mum is caucasian white. His father was a Catholic but eventually departed from the church as he got older. James is still inlove with his ex girlfriend Mellissa Dunnly. they separated a month after his father died and have kept contact vaguely ever since. he earns around £24,350 per annum with the help from his mother who is sitting on a number of properties and wealth. James loves his job, he believes the job is a 24 hour shift 7 days a week because there always stories and things happening around him which he needs to catch and write up before the day is done. the best part of his job is finding crucial stories and socializing with links towards a certain subject. he believes nothings wrong with this job and sincerely feels completed with this occupation. James fears that he won't find love again or fulfill his ambition of climbing the journalism ladder. if James could change anything in his life it would be his father dying because the two bonded very well and always had banter between them which james is constantly reminded by his mother of where he got his wittiness from.

James is very open sexually, he longed for a career in pornography but because of his

upbringing he did not want to disappoint his beloved mother. he currently has three women on the go and dabbles in sexual activities when he has the time with the nearest or most convienient of the three.

Milestone 2 / Character Exercises / Observation

I Went to Westfields mall to observe people and how they react to situations and also there movement. How  people interact within the different relationships and dynamics on display in a public place makes for fascinating viewing. As I rounded a few more corners, two families were passing each other a few metres in front of me. A Russian woman, with husband and daughter in tow, stopped and turned around as she noticed the other couple speaking Russian. She called out to get their attention, and they continued to talk for a while, possibly asking directions or advice on something touristy from the sound of it.

While I was passing by some lingerie stores ahead, a couple in their 30s were sharing a remark about one of the the more outlandish costumes in the shop display; The audible whispers, the leaning in, the shared grin, but only a slight one. Exiting one of the many generic looking fashion stores targeted at teenagers, an older woman was pointing out a girl who just passed by in a faint animal print dress with a sash around her waist, to her younger companion. There was approval in their faces and a mild tinge of something like envy in their backward-angled heads and attentive eyes, about something they wished they could pull off as well as the specimen they had just noticed.

A couple pushing a baby stroller, a stocky man in tan shorts and his petite wife with pulled back hair and a very spa-enhanced face, were offered perfume by the Lebanese salesman manning one of the central stalls on a lower level. After waving him away and walking a few steps, the man looked back and said ‘shukran’ (thank you) with a raised hand, a cultural after-thought. The salesman shouted back ‘affwan’ (welcome) in return, as each party continued with their business.

Our mannerisms and the unique body language we develop, one gesture at a time through life, often defines us and the way people see us. We are unaware of these minor quirks but they play an important part in what makes us recognisable to those who know us, a specific gait, a way we hold ourselves up, a habitual body movement. The smallest twitches can make the biggest impact.

On our way out of the mall we visited the supermarket. At the checkout, a woman with short dark hair and a knee-length dress suit was conversing quietly on her bright blue phone as she was going through. The attendant bagging her groceries was playing safe by keeping things in separate bags. Still cradling the phone on her shoulder and also handling her wallet, she went up to him, put a stray item he had kept aside into the one large bag already prepared and did a strange rotatory motion with her fore arm, trying to tell him to put everything into one bag, while continuing her conversation on the phone uninterrupted.

While I was passing by some lingerie stores ahead, a couple in their 30s were sharing a remark about one of the the more outlandish costumes in the shop display; The audible whispers, the leaning in, the shared grin, but only a slight one. Exiting one of the many generic looking fashion stores targeted at teenagers, an older woman was pointing out a girl who just passed by in a faint animal print dress with a sash around her waist, to her younger companion. There was approval in their faces and a mild tinge of something like envy in their backward-angled heads and attentive eyes, about something they wished they could pull off as well as the specimen they had just noticed.
A couple pushing a baby stroller, a stocky man in tan shorts and his petite wife with pulled back hair and a very spa-enhanced face, were offered perfume by the Lebanese salesman manning one of the central stalls on a lower level. After waving him away and walking a few steps, the man looked back and said ‘shukran’ (thank you) with a raised hand, a cultural after-thought. The salesman shouted back ‘affwan’ (welcome) in return, as each party continued with their business.

Our mannerisms and the unique body language we develop, one gesture at a time through life, often defines us and the way people see us. We are unaware of these minor quirks but they play an important part in what makes us recognisable to those who know us, a specific gait, a way we hold ourselves up, a habitual body movement. The smallest twitches can make the biggest impact.
On our way out of the mall we visited the supermarket. At the checkout, a woman with short dark hair and a knee-length dress suit was conversing quietly on her bright blue phone as she was going through. The attendant bagging her groceries was playing safe by keeping things in separate bags. Still cradling the phone on her shoulder and also handling her wallet, she went up to him, put a stray item he had kept aside into the one large bag already prepared and did a strange rotatory motion with her fore arm, trying to tell him to put everything into one bag, while continuing her conversation on the phone uninterrupted.

In terms of my character im portraying in the monologue i believe he would be quite direct and takes pride in himself the way he interacts and comes across to friends or strangers. his posture is very upright and focused  you would never catch him lounging around in a couch-slouch position in public. He interacts with strangers in a clear and polite manner with a hint of arrogance. If you saw this character walking down the street people would probably get the impression that hes stuck up his own ass and he knows it. He is very observant when interacting, paying attention to fine details that the average person would not even register. his journalism skills always has his eyes on the prowl for the next big article. hes very good at haggling shop staff when needed and can woo the ladies with his strong Repton school accent and vibrant vocabulary that instantly puts them in a trance where by the end of it the staff at whatever shop are eating out his hand. if i could sum him up in three words when in public it would be, manipulative, observant and direct.

 European Theatre - The work of Bertolt Brecht

 

Who is Bertolt Brecht?

Bertolt Brecht was a famous German playwright, theater critic, and director. He created and advanced the form of epic theater, believing that plays should be tools for political and social activism rather than solely entertainment. His company, the Berliner Ensemble, became one of the most famous touring companies in the world and to this day continues to produce politically-minded work in the Brechtian style.
Born in 1898 to middle-class parents in Bavaria, Bertolt Brecht grew up in a comfortable lifestyle. In elementary school, he met Caspar Nehar, who would become a life-long friend and go on to design sets for many of Brecht’s plays. As a student at Munich University during World War I, the playwright studied theater and became fascinated with German cabaret performances, particularly the work of comedian Karl Valentin.
Bertolt Brecht began writing plays around this time, which enjoyed some commercial success and critical acclaim. He also spent time studying the work of political theorist Karl Marx and socialism. He began to form his theory of “epic theater.” This theater, departing from the traditional aims of drama as described by Aristotle, was not meant to be an imitation of reality or a device of entertainment.

 

Brechtian Techniques

Brecht's Epic Theatre

When Brecht was looking for a term that would encompass the type of theatre he was looking to create, he was influenced by the work of Erwin Piscator, an established German director who during the 1920s and 30s was involved in the creation of new theatre forms. Piscator was the first person to coin the phrase Epic Theatre, a term that Brecht is often associated with.

The Epic Play

The Epic Play will follow a story familiar to the audience. The story is often in the form of a fable, or it will show historical events. Brecht's intention in using known material was to make it unsensational: by taking away any attraction-grabbing ‘wrapping' that an original story may have, Brecht was stripping away a disguise that dramatic theatre often uses.

The form of an epic play is episodic. Whereas the plays of Ibsen or Chekhov will construct scenes that relate directly to every other scene, Brecht's plays consist of a series of lone standing, loosely connected scenes. Scenes were often book ended with musical interludes, captions or gestures. These interludes allowed the audience to reflect critically on what they had just witnessed and also prevented feelings of empathy or the illusion of reality.
His plays were able to stand-alone as Brecht wished to illustrate a story of perspective from many different viewpoints. He likened it to 10 different people witnessing the same car crash. The retelling of the story will be slightly different from each person as they have seen it from a different angle.
The characters in the epic play represent an individual who in turn represents all humankind. This also assists in breaking any empathy that one might feel for a character.
The Epic Actor

Epic Actors serve as narrators and demonstrators. They retell events and in doing so demonstrate actions and events that assist in the audience's understanding the situation. Brecht wanted his actors to always remember that they are an actor portraying another's emotions, feelings and experiences.

To assist in achieving this, Brecht often used a device or theatrical technique called Gestus. Gestus was a gesture or position that an actor would take up at crucial sections in the play. The gesture or action aimed to encapsulate the feelings of the character at the one time, and also briefly stopped the action. The most famous Gestus ever used was in Brecht's Mother Courage where the character of Mother Courage looks out to the audience, her face posed in a silent scream.
The Epic Stage

Brecht envisaged the Epic Stage as a place for discussion. The audience is presented with a topic of social or political relevance and an opinion or message on said topic. The epic stage provides its audience with questions, possible solutions and actively encourages them to think, determine and act.

Brecht had no desire to hide any of the elements of theatrical production. Lighting, music, scenery, costume changes, acting style, projections and any other elements he called upon were in full view of the audience; a reminder that they are in a theatre, and what they are watching is not real.
Brecht also wished to change the scale of the properties used, and then also use them out of context. For example, using a skyscraper that makes up part of the set and turning it over to use as a judges table in a courtroom. This challenged the audience, and also reminded them that they were watching something that was being manufactured, and not real life.
The Alienation Effect

Perhaps the best known technique of Brecht's epic theatre is the Alienation Effect: to make the familiar strange. Although the term ‘alienate' may conjure up images of separating one thing from another by building a wall, this is not the case. The A-effect takes "…the human social incidents to be portrayed and label[s] them as something striking, something that calls for explanation, is not to be taken for granted…" (Willet 125) The purpose is that the audience be put in a situation where they can reflect critically in a social context.

The Epic Audience

"The one tribute we can pay the audience is to treat it as thoroughly intelligent. It is utterly wrong to treat people as simpletons when they are grown up at seventeen. I appeal to the reason."(Willet, 14)

The Relaxed Audience is how Brecht referred to the audience he wished the epic theatre to attract. Brecht often spoke of what he termed a ‘smoker's theatre', where audience members would puff on cigars, much like they would at a boxing match, whilst watching a performance. The relaxed audience are interested in what they are watching; they are there to be entertained, and to think.
Although epic theatre is often perceived as lacking in emotion or entertainment value, Brecht was actually intent on creating a theatrical experience that entertained, educated and provoked thought. This misconception seems to stem from the notion that entertainment and education cannot co-exist. However his productions used intelligent humour, dance, music, clowning and colour to tell stories with high political and social content. After all, theatre is supposed to represent life, and life is derived from of combination of the personal, social and political climate of the time.

(Extracted from http://www.usq.edu.au/artsworx/schoolresources/goodwomanofszechwan/epictheatre)

 

Threepenny Opera

 

Polly, the only daughter of Mr. Peachum, king of the beggars, marries the notorious thief Macheath. Motivated by his own self-interest, Peachum not only disapproves of the match, but he also sees Macheath as a mortal enemy and threat to his business. He and his wife, Celia, hatch a plan to get Macheath arrested and hanged, but Polly informs them that London’s chief of police, Tiger Brown, attended their wedding as a friend of the groom. The two friends, who served together in the Indian army, enjoy a symbiotic relationship in which Brown informs Macheath of possible arrests, and Macheath lets Brown know when a crime is about to take place.

Trying to catch Macheath, Mrs. Peachum enlists the help of Macheath’s former lover, the prostitute Jenny. She agrees to give up Macheath’s location for ten shillings and tells Mrs. Peachum that even if Macheath is trying to outwit the police, he will not give up his Thursday visit to the brothel. Mr. Peachum blackmails Brown into capturing Macheath by threatening that he will set his brood of beggars loose on the grounds of Buckingham Palace before the queen’s coronation on Friday. Trapped, Brown agrees to arrest his friend.

When Macheath enters the brothel, Jenny reads his palm, suggesting that Macheath will be betrayed by someone whose name begins with the letter J. Soon after, Constable Smith captures him and throws him in jail at the Old Bailey. Polly visits him in jail, but Lucy, Brown’s daughter and another of Macheath’s women, interrupts them. Lucy and Polly begin arguing over who is the rightful wife of Macheath. Lucy reveals that she’s pregnant. After Polly—kicking and screaming—is collected by Mrs. Peachum, Macheath asks Lucy to bring him his hat and cane. Smith soon opens the cage to remove Macheath’s personal effects, but while the door is open, Macheath escapes.

Jenny goes to Peachum’s office and demands her ten shillings. When Mrs. Peachum denies her payment because of Macheath’s escape, Jenny betrays his location once again, revealing that he is with the prostitute Suky Tawdry. Brown bursts in to arrest Peachum for threatening to set his beggars loose at the coronation. Brown orders the constables to arrest the beggars, but Peachum warns Brown that capturing them will disrupt the coronation, create a huge mess for the police, and ruin Brown’s reputation as sheriff. Prompted by Peachum, Jenny reveals Macheath’s location once again, and Brown calls an emergency conference of sergeants. Peachum sends the beggars to the jail, expecting that the police will capture Macheath.
Quickly discovered, Macheath is thrown back in jail and informed that he will be executed on Friday at six in the evening. Macheath attempts to bribe Smith with a thousand pounds, although a consultation with two of his fellow thieves reveals that only the sum of four hundred pounds is available. When Smith goes to fetch Macheath’s last meal, Polly and Brown enter with their apologies and last words and are soon joined by the rest of the characters. Macheath cries for mercy, but when the group reaches the gallows, a mounted messenger appears, bringing news that the queen has demanded the release of Macheath. As the crowd cheers, both Mr. and Mrs. Peachum address the audience, reminding them that happy endings do not happen in reality.

 

Week 1 Rehearsal Evaluation.

Myself, Tracy and Ayo where given the assignment that we would be doing Bertolt Brecht theatre which was very exciting and challenging news. We were given the play Three penny opera by Nick and Yusuf.

I was given the character Jonathan Peachum was the 'king' of the beggars whilst Tracy played Celia Peachum (My wife) and Ayo played an aspiring beggar called Filch.

we started of by going through the script and breaking down the text to get a further understanding of the scene. We also started playing around with personality of the characters we were playing , changing the tone of voice and physicality which is essential becuase brecht characters are usually big and exaggerated.

Week 2 Rehearsal Evaluation.

This week went through the text a few times doing it in different ways for example, I done the first run through of the scene in an american accent but very quickly i realised this did not suit the text at all so i kept changing my physicallity and accent to see what would fit. I also referred back to some youtube videos to see what was the common theme used for threepenny opera for my character. the common choice of accent was a cockeny (london accent) which i tried out and it seem to work quite well. Tracy and ayo also done the same with there character in order for the scene to flow and make sense.

Week 3 Rehearsal Evaluation.

This week we decided to go with the london cockney theme for our characters. we chose it because the tone of the accent fitted the plot of the scene as it is set in london. we then started focussing on our physicallity of the character which is essential because brechtian theatre requires alot of exaggeration in gestures and movement. we also started doing minor blockings and playing with the text to see how we can portray this scene to the audience. I was also considering the mindset of my character Mr.Peachum and started to try and break down his personality. I started getting the feeling from the text that Mr.Peachum is a very Arrogant man who likes to be in control of things so i started to make that clear in my posture and acting, I also thought that this sort of character needed to be of the older generation, around his 40's to 50's to accomodate his arrogance and self superiority towards the other beggars and his family.  Peachum is the proprietor of “The Beggar’s Friend.” Conniving and hypocritical, Peachum outfits poor men as panhandlers to evoke extra sympathy and then demands a percentage of their profits. He trusts no one, not even his wife and daughter. When he learns that his daughter, Polly, has married Macheath, he is sure that his new son-in-law will hurt his business so i really tried to bring that out with his phyical and mental attitude.

Week 4 Rehearsal Evaluation.

Ayo and I started adding bits to the blocking in order to make certain points made in the dialogue more clear for the audience to understand. We also started learning the intro song for the play (Mac the Knife) which is a famous song, but due to the lack of people memerising the words we scrapped it. We then started blocking an alternative introduction into our scene. Yusuf decided we should
start it of at busy market, incorporting other students who do others scenes of the play and making it look frantic and messy. we started bringing in props and trying on costumes for our character to start getting a feel of how we want our charater to look .

Week 5 Rehearsal Evaluation.

This week we started looking at our costumes and what we were going to use as props, i decided that Mr.Peachum should have a Gentlemens sort of look but not look to posh or rich because he was the on the top end of the poor. also i was still concerned about the phyiscallity of Peachum, I wanted him to have a distinct movement or gesture on stage that exagerrates the character more. We also started blocking more without our script and adding bits and pieces to make the scene make more sense.

Week 6 Rehearsal Evaluation.

This week we were all off script and continued to add more blocking to parts of dialogue that required 'Beefing up' in order to entice the audiences attention to important things in the dialogue and to also keep there interest throughout the scene, so we as a group tried to add more comedy moments . We also watched a film of the Threepenny Opera and i actually found it quite boring and long (also it was a musical) but what i did get from it was that Mr.Peachum was portrayed as an old man in this film which reassured me on my take of the character. I was particulary trying to find a prop that suited Peachum so I looked at props like a pipe and a top hat which looked pretty decent.

Week 7 Rehearsal Evaluation.

This week we were prepping for the performance so we started painting signs for the market scene and for my starting monologue which requires signs with quotes from the bible. so we started getting all the materials and props needed for the performance . I also included a walking stick to my character which allowed to do much more on stage on how i command things and move around which makes it very distinctive of Mr.Peachums personality, i wanted to give the impression of a grumpy old man which helped with the walking stick.

Week 8 Rehearsal Evaluation.

Peformance week and we have now fully blocked the scene and rehearsed it on stage with lighting and props in place. I got some good feedback from Alex saying how he liked my Physicallity and use of props, He said i had to work on clartiy of some words in the dialogue to make it more clear to the audience. and instead of a pipe I should use a bluggered out cigar. he also noted that i should change how i do the ending to give it more of an effect on the audience.  Ayo had been given some very important advice by nick on how his character should come across towards the audience and in the scene and after that it seemed asif the pieces of the puzzle came together and it worked brilliantly. all the blocking and added bits we put in made sense and it was very clear. The inclusion of props made it easier to exaggerate gestures and movement which was fun and we also had a clear sense of purpose and direction within our character.

Nick also made the whole class be painted with white faces and drawn on  eyebrows and moustaches which gave it a brilliant brecht style effect. The painted faces really exaggerated our gestures perfectly and it also gave it that unreal element that makes brechtian style theatre. The comedy moments were just right but not to much which gave away the moral of the play. So we kepy it in balance with Brecht techniques and the direction of the scene. In my opinion i believe Myself, Tracy and Ayo worked well together and gave equal amounts of positive contribution towards the piece.

 The Performance

The performance went very well, The audience laughed at the parts where we added in the comedy moments and also understood the dialogue and scenario well from feedback after the show. It was also said that our performance was believable and clear. I said the dialogue with conviction and convincing timing asif what im reacting to is new to me and not rehearsed. I really wanted to give a spontaneous feel to the scene so nothing feels scripted. Also a good example for when I used a comedy moment is when Ayo (Filch) throws some clothes at me where i react with disgust and astonishment, instead when he done it this time during the performance I turned to the audience with a puzzled face then turned to Filch, Turned to the audience again and then filch, Turn to the audience a last time and they started bursting out with laughter after i done it the third time, then carried on with the dialogue. that was a split second decision where i felt i can play with the audience a bit and it worked tremendously.

 

 

 

 

 

REFINING PERFORMANCE IN REHEARSAL

 

 

 

 

In the performance, I played the brother of a young girl called Michelle who was being sexually abused by the brother. In terms of myself developing my performance in rehearsals, at first when i was acting, I was not coming across genuinely instead it looked like i was 'acting'. My posture and gestures were in a sense robotic at first so I decided to be more relaxed and act comfortable as the character i was. during the scene I'm in, I walk in and stare at Michelle. before i was staring at her straight away with the facial expression that indicates I was sexually aroused or deviant. that gave away to the audience what the brothers intentions were straight away so i changed it by being more subtle with the expressions. when I done this, I got feedback saying that it felt much more 'creepy' and 'sinister'. In rehearsals I was saying the dialogue in a normal subtle tone. So i thought in order to bring the characteristics of my character across, i needed to be more forcefull with my speech, more bold and direct so its more believable to the audience.


Me, Synthia and others in the original group would be trying different scenarios to see if it would fit the topic of choice. After alot of disscussion and trying different things for scenes we came up with a solid idea that there would be two families. One family were theres domestic violence and the other family suffering from sexual abuse. we came up with many good ideas with the teachers advice such as using internet forums were we act as if each individual in the group are on a chat forum online and Michelle asks for advice on the abuse shes receiving from her brother. Unfortunately because we had to cut the scenes down to fit into the time slot we was given, we had to scrap the forum idea although it would of been a good scene for the audience.

Process Of Creating Perfomance

Our Teachers, Nick and Yusuf looked at our individual pieces of work we created and gave us advice on how we should come across the audience which was to make the message we are trying to portray as simplistic as possible. instead of making it more based on realism within the acting or abstract, we instead should make it as basic as possible.  from that idea of it being very simple, Nick decided to combine groups from both sets together into one piece weaving all of them together but to make it intelligible. The teachers then came up with the idea to have to whole group sitting in a chairs in a semi-circle. all of us wearing blacks (which is compulsory on Performing arts courses) and 2 seats at the end to be used for when we are performing. The semi-circle itself nick quoted 'looked quite nice' in terms of its simplistic features. The teachers then thought it would be good to incorporate forum theatre techniques but instead of allowing the audience to interact, we let the actors within the semi circle tell the story in a conversational style where anyone from the semi-circle can interject and ask questions relating to that particular character in the scene for example, i say "theres a girl" someone from the semi-cirlce replies "whats her name", I reply "Michelle, shes 17."Then someone else would ask a question like " where does she live" etc. so to the audience it seems like spontaneous questions revealing more and more about the character when they are answered. During these periods of figuring out how to come across to the audience during the pefromance, we was also getting prep talks from our teacher Nick which he constantly stressed the quote of " Acting is Reacting" were he means that in order to achieve a high standard of acting in a performance. we must react to communication being giving appropriately to fit the theme and happenings of the scene. But what I as an individual need to consider is not always react in a Stanislavski 'realistic' way for all projects yet to find the balance. This includes the use of gestures and facial expressions reacting to something in the scene.

Research On Forum based theatre

A technique pioneered by Brazilian radical Augusto Boal. A play or scene, usually indicating some kind of oppression, is shown twice. During the replay, any member of the audience ('spect-actor') is allowed to shout 'Stop!', step forward and take the place of one of the oppressed characters, showing how they could change the situation to enable a different outcome. Several alternatives may be explored by different spect-actors. The other actors remain in character, improvising their responses. A facilitator (Joker) is necessary to enable communication between the players and the audience.

The strategy breaks through the barrier between performers and audience, putting them on an equal footing. It enables participants to try out courses of action which could be applicable to their everyday lives. Originally the technique was developed by Boal as a political tool for change (part of the Theatre of the Oppressed), but has been widely adapted for use in educational contexts.


I also think that we achieved some Bertolt Brecht techniques such as breaking the 4th wall barrier between the performers and audience. We wanted them to feel involved in the play and to also to recieve the dialogue as if it were spontaneous. Brecht wanted the audience to become socially active in the peformance, creating conflict and issues in the play to conjure up arguements and debates in the audience. Brecht wanted to know all sides of a story, all opinions were valid in his eyes and i believe we had that sort of mindset as a group.

 

 

THEATRE.IN.EDUCATION

Our current assignment is to come up with a theatre company which performs to secondary school students, tackling issues that occurs in everyday life based around making decisions on these rather personal issues that arise through teenage years. We as a group have to come up with a script and a theme for the particular issue we would want to work around and also to book the school that we wanted to show the play to. This task allows us to not only gain further more experiences as actors, but to help us understand the business side of things within Theatre in education.


Target Audience

Our Target audience is school students aged from 15-16 for our TIE Project. Our initial ideas where to do a performance based on making decisions and rasing issues to do with domestic violence and sexual abuse. The teachers explained to my group how we should try steer away from the stereotypical issues that have been performed in schools such as, gun and knife crime, gangs etc. because they have been done frequently in schools and education institutions so we started to think of other occuring issues that are not raised to secondary school students enough. although topics like gangs and gun/knife crime are serious issues that people need to be aware of. we feel that its been focused on too much whereas there are issues more affecting students everyday life such as domestic violence and sexual abuse. I believe my group brought together some good research and statistics underlining key issues that happens in school, which we thought we should include for example,
sexting and social networking. Because technology has grown considerably, it is now easier for peers, friends and family to be more connected through the internet and social networking services. although this is a reletively not a issue. there are some problems that can occur when using these sites (espcially for hormonal teenagers who use these social network mediums religously). Sexting has increasingly become a issues thats affecting young peoples lives. Social networks such as BBM has become prevelant in this area for these things to occur. young people sending pictures around to eachother that include sexually explicit material has become rife. Even myself alone has been a witness of constantly being sent explicit images of young people, which have been shared around to the masses like wildfire. these issues are a threat to young peoples lives leaving them to feel vunerable and suffer from depression based on these things. Because of this we included this topic in our performance piece.

I believe these topics and issues would meet the current needs of secondary school students because these issues arise in everyday life, particularly as a teenager. We are trying to give a message to the students that the decisions they make can affect there lives so we are trying to make them more aware of how they can deal with situations and issues stated. we give them advice on who they can speak to in order to prevent further problems for occuring. This would give the student more confidence to try and deal with there issues the right way instead of it spiralling out of their control.

Statistics and reasearch on Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence

sexual abuse

January 2013

 

·         Nearly a quarter of young adults experienced sexual abuse during childhood.

·         17,727 sexual crimes against children under 16 were recorded in England and Wales in 2010/11.

 

Research statistics on the prevalence of child sexual abuse

Child abuse and neglect in the UK today (Radford et al, 2011) is a major piece of NSPCC research which interviewed 1,761 young adults aged 18-24 years; 2,275 children aged 11-17 years and 2,160 parents of children aged under 11.

Below are the key findings on child sexual abuse.


Experience of some form of sexual abuse (see Table 5.2)

·         Nearly a quarter of young adults (24.1%) experienced sexual abuse (including contact and non-contact), by an adult or by a peer during childhood.

·         One in six children aged 11-17 (16.5%) have experienced sexual abuse.

·         Almost one in 10 children aged 11-17 (9.4%) have experienced sexual abuse in the past year. Teenage girls aged between 15 and 17 years reported the highest past year rates of sexual abuse.

Experience of contact sexual abuse (see Table 5.2)

·         One in nine young adults (11.3%) experienced contact sexual abuse during childhood.

·         One in 20 children aged 11-17 (4.8%) have experienced contact sexual abuse.

·         Two thirds (65.9%) of contact sexual abuse experienced by children aged 0-17 was perpetrated by someone aged under 18.

Disclosing sexual abuse (see page 9)

·         More than one in three children aged 11-17 (34%) who experienced contact sexual abuse by an adult did not tell anyone else about it.

·         Four out of five children aged 11-17 (82.7%) who experienced contact sexual abuse from a peer did not tell anyone else about it.

 

Domestic abuse

November 2012

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In a study of 139 serious case reviews in England 2009-2011, 63% of cases were found to have domestic abuse as a risk factor. From: Brandon, Marian, Sidebotham, Peter, Bailey, Sue and Belderson, Pippa, Hawley, Carol, Ellis, Catherine and Megson, Matthew (2012) New learning from serious case reviews: a two year report for 2009-2011 (PDF). London: Department for Education.

In a study of 56 significant case reviews in Scotland since 2007, 30 (54%) of cases were found to have domestic abuse as a risk factor.
From: Vincent, S. and Petch, A (2012) Audit and analysis of initial and significant case reviews (PDF). Edinburgh: The Scottish Government.

According to a recent NSPCC study, 12% of under 11s, 18% of 11-17s and 24% of 18-24s had been exposed to domestic abuse between adults in their homes during childhood. Adult males were the perpetrators in 94% of cases where one parent had physically abused another. From: NSPCC (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK today. London: NSPCC.

Domestic abuse accounts for 18% of all violent crime. From: Home Office (2011) Crime in England and Wales 2010/11. London: Home Office.

Children who experience severe maltreatment by a parent or guardian are between 2.7 and 2.9 times more likely to also have witnessed family violence. Under 11s who had experienced physical abuse by a parent or guardian were almost 5 times more likely to have witnessed family violence.
From: NSPCC (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK today. London: NSPCC.

Between 1994 and 2004, 29 children in 13 families were killed during contact (or in one case residence) arrangements in England and Wales. Ten of these children were killed in the last two years. From: Saunders, H. (2004) 29 child homicides: lessons still to be learnt on domestic violence and child protection. Bristol: Women’s Aid Federation of England (WAFE).

The total cost of domestic abuse to services (the criminal justice system, health, social services, housing and civil legal) amounts to £3.8 billion per year, while the loss to the economy is £1.9 billion per year in England and Wales. An additional element is the human and emotional cost which is not counted in the cost of services. This amounts to just under £10 billion a year. Including all costs, the total cost of domestic abuse for the state, employers and victims is estimated at around £16 billion per year.
From: Walby, S. (2009) The cost of domestic violence: update 2009 (Word). Lancaster University: UNESCO Chair in Gender Research.