Contemporary Theatre Performance
8th September 2014
In this unit will be studying two contrasting contemporary plays that were written since 1930 these plays have been based around the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
During this unit I will be expressing the key words that have been given to achieve the best quality of performance and understanding of the context behind the plays, to achieve this I will do research on the conflict between the two countries and as well as doing research about the plays to have a deeper understanding and interpretation of the characters to improve my performance.
The Key Words that have been given are ....
- Research
- Interpret
- Realise
- Rehearse
- Perform
The two plays that we will studying are "My name is Rachel Corrie" by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner and the other play that we will be studying is "Attempts of her life" by Martin Crimp.
Assignment 1
"My Name is Rachel Corrie" was edited by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner.
The play was first performed in 2005 at the Royal Court Theatre in London.
The play is performed in a style of Verbatim Theatre.
From reading the play I have found the play to be interesting this is because the play has be written in a style of a diary which I find cleverly written as it show you what the character Rachel Corrie was up to when she was in Palestine but from what I have read from the script i have found what the troubles that she went though to help the people of Palestine. My other thoughts on its going to be a challenge to stage but in a good way as we can play about with who is going to play the main character and how can we show with movement what Rachel is talking about.
15th September 2014
For homework we researched about the conflict between Israel and Palestine this is what I found out and we discussed it with the class to see what other information anyone else got.
1) Who are the ISM and IDF?
The ISM are the International Solidarity Movement which is a pro- Palestinian group who Rachel Corrie was a member of they would peacefully fight against the IDF which are the Israeli Defence Force which is basically the Israeli army.
2) What was Rachel Corrie's involvement?
She was a member of the pro-Palestinian group the international solidarity movement (ISM) she went to Gaza as part of her senior year assignment at college she would around Palestinians houses experiencing the life they had as well she engage with other ISM activist in efforts to prevent the Israeli army demolition Palestinian homes.
3) What was 2nd Intifada?
The second intifada was the second Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation which started in September 2000 the ending of the second intifada was on the 8th February 2005.
The result of the uprising was the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier as well a decrease of violence in the West Bank and Israeli forces withdrawn from the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli -Palestinian conflict started in the mid 20th century up to present day but the main phase of the conflict was between 1964 to 1993.
The conflict in the Gaza Strip started from June 2006 to present day.
The 2014 conflict started on 8th July 2014 and finished 50 days later on the 26th August 2014.
22nd September 2014
For today's lesson we read though the script looking at what imagery that we could find from the text we found ways that movement could represent the words and we also looked at how we could stage the performance.
I had an idea about how we could stage the part with the email as there are 3 different emails to different people we agreed that for eacher Amelia, Natelia or Kat would play Rachel so we list them to together with someone else who would be Mum, Todd or Dad
Email 1: Mum emails Rachel
Kat Natalia
Email 2: Rachel emails Mum
Natalia Kat
Email 3: Todd emails Rachel
Tom Amelia
Email 4: Rachel emails Todd
Amelia Tom
Email 5: Dad emails Rachel
Ryan Kat
Email 6: Rachels emails Dad
Kat Ryan
after we decide how the email would be set we started to think how we would stage the emails, the idea that i came up with was to the two characters facing each and have the characters read out each other emails e.g. mum would read Rachel email and Rachel would read mum email, we looked at the email scene and decide we like the idea of the characters reading each other emails out but the staging we change so we change the staging to have five chairs on stage and the idea would be to have a movement that represented any email the movement that we created was to the have character sending the email throw the email at Rachel and she would catch the email then read it then do it the opposite way round for the reply.
Another idea that I had was to use projection in the email scene by having a projection of the email being typed out and read at the same time I thought that this would be a clever idea as the audience could hear and read the email at the same time to build on the effects of the performance, but we decided that this idea would't work as it would be to technical to create and it would be hard to get the timings right.
6th October 2014
During today's lesson I was told the my lines and the stage that the others created last week when I wasn't in.
In today's lesson we more focused on the script and annotating it with the words that we could
use to make imagery at the same time thinking on how we can make the piece have an element of physical theatre.
At the same time we agree that we were not going to have an image for every word just the words that had a meaning to the Rachel's characters are the play is in her view point. so we wanted the movements to have a meaning.
13th October 2014
In today's lesson we continue to block the script but we were starting to realised that it was taking a long time to block but this reason is that we are coming up with good idea's for different sections of the script, so were are going though a period trial and error by testing all the different idea's that we had seeing which ones worked and which ones didn't then agreeing as a group which ones to use.
one of the idea that we trail and errored was part of green towers how would physicals the towers one of the idea's was the have Natalia walk up to the tower by standing on mine and Amelia back but as we were testing this idea we could see that it was working as effectively as we want it to be, so we tried a different idea that me and Kat gave Natalia a push up on to Amelia's back from their she would jump up on to Tom but this idea also didn't work as effectively as we wanted it to.
use to make imagery at the same time thinking on how we can make the piece have an element of physical theatre.
At the same time we agree that we were not going to have an image for every word just the words that had a meaning to the Rachel's characters are the play is in her view point. so we wanted the movements to have a meaning.
13th October 2014
In today's lesson we continue to block the script but we were starting to realised that it was taking a long time to block but this reason is that we are coming up with good idea's for different sections of the script, so were are going though a period trial and error by testing all the different idea's that we had seeing which ones worked and which ones didn't then agreeing as a group which ones to use.
one of the idea that we trail and errored was part of green towers how would physicals the towers one of the idea's was the have Natalia walk up to the tower by standing on mine and Amelia back but as we were testing this idea we could see that it was working as effectively as we want it to be, so we tried a different idea that me and Kat gave Natalia a push up on to Amelia's back from their she would jump up on to Tom but this idea also didn't work as effectively as we wanted it to.
Other idea's that we had that did work was having Tom and Natalia fall inwards to show represent the line "walls might fall in on you" but then having Tom and Natalia there already worked for the next bit when Rachel talks about Raffa, This work by having Tom and Natalia hiding behind a chairs that they brought on before they become the wall.
20th October 2014
Today we continue to block the script working on parts where we could add imagery to the one place we did is with the Egyptian solider shouting to Rachel we created the staging to have Rachel play by Amelia walk over Natalia and Tom which represented the rubble created from the bulldozers and then have me who was hiding behind a chair jump up and shout at Amalia. At this point Kat is on the chair talking about what she is seeing and the rest of us are acting out what she is describing to the audience.
To add to this scene when Rachel is talking about the different kids we decided to stage this by having me, Natalia, Tom and Amelia all standing behind Rachel being the kid that she was talking about.
When Kat got to the part of shooting them we created the effect of having me and Natalia ducking and Tom and Amelia falling to the floor dead, by having me and Natalia ducking it linked to the next part of about pecking out behind the wall me and Natalia represent the children doing that.
3rd November 2014
10th November 2014
24th November 2014
1st December 2014
During today's lesson we blocked the final scene but looking at ways we could make it interesting for the audience we had the stage we all the characters in the email were on a chair facing a different direction.
If we went by the script for this scene it would have just been the three girls talking so we change it to part that were in list apart from the two of the lists.
List one we all had one line to say so we staged it by having person saying the line stand up say the line then sit down then the next person would stand up and say the line this continued for the rest of the list but we also had it that when you are not talking and sitting down that you had your head down and didn't move so the audience we focused on the person speaking and not anyone else.
List two was done by the girls only which ha them move from the chair that they were on to move to a chair in the middle of the stage which they walked around and when they each had a line to say the would sit down on this chair and saying the line as the other two would continue to walk around the chair.
List three was done by me and Tom where we just stood up to say our line but this time we didn't sit back down in this one we stayed standing to all of the line were said which then went straight into dad and Rachel's email.
8th December 2014
During today we start to look at the whole performances looking at what was working and what was not and also looking out for parts that were missing or that need extra added to as well. also we looked at changing parts that was not working as well so they can could follow more.
The looked at the scene when Rachel was talking about death we looked at how we could stage this better to make it follow more and we also looked at exits, After we talked about it as a group we decided to stage it with having the one of the girls who was playing Rachel at the time of the speech to sit down on the chair and have the rest of the us standing at the back of the stage facing the wall so the audience attention was all focused on Rachel, we also added to this staging by having the people on the back wall turn and faced the audience when we had a line to say and then just stand facing the audience still to our next line, but when Kat is playing Rachel at the end of the scene we have the interpreted that Rachel could be drag off stage to represent the line "even though none of us have done anything illegal.
15th December 2014
During today's lesson we looked at adding the last few technical parts that we could add to make the performance have more meat to it and the basic skeleton that we had created, so we re-staged the email scene to make the staging work more and look more effective so we change the staging from each character in on stage facing a different directions to having all the characters in a semi circle and having the characters who was not speaking have there head down so the audience can focus on the characters who are, we also looked at throwing of the emails to make the throwing look bigger then we had it before so making the throw look more then it was and making the catch looks like the characters found it hard to catch by having the throwing moving we were making it clear to the audience that we were throwing emails.
Also we worked on the ending of the email scene as we realised that part of the final page of the script isn't part of Rachel's email to her dad so we deicide as a group that have the three girls stand up and walk to front center stage and say the last in in cannon and all three of the girls drop their scarf together.
5th January 2015
Today we continue to block the script working on parts where we could add imagery to the one place we did is with the Egyptian solider shouting to Rachel we created the staging to have Rachel play by Amelia walk over Natalia and Tom which represented the rubble created from the bulldozers and then have me who was hiding behind a chair jump up and shout at Amalia. At this point Kat is on the chair talking about what she is seeing and the rest of us are acting out what she is describing to the audience.
To add to this scene when Rachel is talking about the different kids we decided to stage this by having me, Natalia, Tom and Amelia all standing behind Rachel being the kid that she was talking about.
When Kat got to the part of shooting them we created the effect of having me and Natalia ducking and Tom and Amelia falling to the floor dead, by having me and Natalia ducking it linked to the next part of about pecking out behind the wall me and Natalia represent the children doing that.
3rd November 2014
10th November 2014
24th November 2014
1st December 2014
During today's lesson we blocked the final scene but looking at ways we could make it interesting for the audience we had the stage we all the characters in the email were on a chair facing a different direction.
If we went by the script for this scene it would have just been the three girls talking so we change it to part that were in list apart from the two of the lists.
List one we all had one line to say so we staged it by having person saying the line stand up say the line then sit down then the next person would stand up and say the line this continued for the rest of the list but we also had it that when you are not talking and sitting down that you had your head down and didn't move so the audience we focused on the person speaking and not anyone else.
List two was done by the girls only which ha them move from the chair that they were on to move to a chair in the middle of the stage which they walked around and when they each had a line to say the would sit down on this chair and saying the line as the other two would continue to walk around the chair.
List three was done by me and Tom where we just stood up to say our line but this time we didn't sit back down in this one we stayed standing to all of the line were said which then went straight into dad and Rachel's email.
8th December 2014
During today we start to look at the whole performances looking at what was working and what was not and also looking out for parts that were missing or that need extra added to as well. also we looked at changing parts that was not working as well so they can could follow more.
The looked at the scene when Rachel was talking about death we looked at how we could stage this better to make it follow more and we also looked at exits, After we talked about it as a group we decided to stage it with having the one of the girls who was playing Rachel at the time of the speech to sit down on the chair and have the rest of the us standing at the back of the stage facing the wall so the audience attention was all focused on Rachel, we also added to this staging by having the people on the back wall turn and faced the audience when we had a line to say and then just stand facing the audience still to our next line, but when Kat is playing Rachel at the end of the scene we have the interpreted that Rachel could be drag off stage to represent the line "even though none of us have done anything illegal.
15th December 2014
During today's lesson we looked at adding the last few technical parts that we could add to make the performance have more meat to it and the basic skeleton that we had created, so we re-staged the email scene to make the staging work more and look more effective so we change the staging from each character in on stage facing a different directions to having all the characters in a semi circle and having the characters who was not speaking have there head down so the audience can focus on the characters who are, we also looked at throwing of the emails to make the throwing look bigger then we had it before so making the throw look more then it was and making the catch looks like the characters found it hard to catch by having the throwing moving we were making it clear to the audience that we were throwing emails.
Also we worked on the ending of the email scene as we realised that part of the final page of the script isn't part of Rachel's email to her dad so we deicide as a group that have the three girls stand up and walk to front center stage and say the last in in cannon and all three of the girls drop their scarf together.
5th January 2015
Today we did perform our assessment piece we did two run throughs of the our perform to makes sure that all of us knew all the blocking and knew if we needed to leave a gap between any lines.
Also during these run throughs we add our technical side were we added the projection of a film which Kat had organised but we had to think were we could show the projection on a the blackwall and the other question is where could we put the projector during the performance as we were moving at the back of the stage and we couldnt have the projector on when we are performing due to the light.
So we came up with the idea of using one of the Rachel scraff to be the backdrop for the projection as the material gave a good effect for the projection and it could be close to the projector as well as the camera, so we stage it that when the three girls hold there scarfs up at the end of the scene only Kat and Natalia drop theirs and Amalia holds her still and all three of the girls up the scarf up with me and Tom move down from our chairs to the floor so the audience can not see anyone on stage and just watch the film.
Also during these run throughs we add our technical side were we added the projection of a film which Kat had organised but we had to think were we could show the projection on a the blackwall and the other question is where could we put the projector during the performance as we were moving at the back of the stage and we couldnt have the projector on when we are performing due to the light.
So we came up with the idea of using one of the Rachel scraff to be the backdrop for the projection as the material gave a good effect for the projection and it could be close to the projector as well as the camera, so we stage it that when the three girls hold there scarfs up at the end of the scene only Kat and Natalia drop theirs and Amalia holds her still and all three of the girls up the scarf up with me and Tom move down from our chairs to the floor so the audience can not see anyone on stage and just watch the film.
Find Me
Contextual Research
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| Margaret Thatcher |
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| James Callaghan |
Political - The Balance of power during the 70's bounces between to main parties Conservatives and Labour as in 1970 Edward Heath was elected Prime Minister but in 1974 there was a hung government where the Conservatives had the most vote and tried to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats but Labour who won the most seats and Labour leader Harold Wilson became Prime Minister 2 years later Harold Wilson retried due to illness and James Callaghan become Labour leader and became Prime Minister. In 1979 a referendum of devolution for Scotland and Wales was rejected by both countries so SNP (Scottish National Party) Conservatives and Liberal Democrats join to together to form a vote in no confidence which in turn lost Labour the control of the House of Commons which a General Election took place were the Conservatives won and made British history with Margaret Thatcher becoming the first female Prime Minister.
Also During the 70's inflation was high which was blamed on the change in the currency which later in 1976 Britain was forced to borrow money of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) which is seen to be a national embarrassment for a western country. In 1971 oil was discovered in the North sea which added a boost to the government finances.
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| Leicester Square in 1979 |
In 1973 the UK join the European Economic Community which was the predecessor to the European Union before this time Britain wasn't keen on joining as a country who rather watch from the outside.
In 1978 there was a lot of strikes with Lorry drivers, Petrol Tankers, Ambulance staff, miners and dustmen also going on strike for better pay and working condition which was bring the country to it knees which rubbish on the streets.
When you compare politics in the 1970's to 2000s/2010's there are a lot of difference and similarities as during 2000's Labour was running the country for the whole decade which the credit crunch and recession of 2008 causing people not to trust Labour as much which sees Labour booted out of number 10 in 2010 with a coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. A fear of another hung parliament is possible on the outcome of the 2015 General election or another coalition but with fears of the SNP being in a coalition with the Labour party.
Also attitudes towards Europe have change since Britain join the EEC (now EU) with Britain not accepting all the terms that the EU have come up with but since Britain joined EEC things have change within Europe with a new single currency the Euro being created which Britain had to fight hard to get an opt out from join the euro. In 2015 parties such as the Conservatives and UKIP talk about an in out referendum on the EU with Britain staying or leaving the EU.
Culture - In the 1970's fashion long hair was a big thing with men as well with woman having long hair and most people look like hippies, compared to 2015 fashion where men have shaven and short hair as well a the man bung coming popular, In clothing became baggy and having shirt unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up and tops being strapless, see though and lacy to show more skin. In 2015 most people light to wear skin tight jeans and sweat tops. During the 1970's men's punk fashion consisted of ripped clothes with black turtlenecks, tight leather trousers with a leather jackets with shirts with taboo images or messages.
| ABBA |
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| Brotherhood Of Man |
In 1970's Music ABBA was one of the most popular bands around but becoming more famous around the world after winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton with the song "Waterloo" at this time the Eurovision Song Contest was popular in the UK as famous artist such as Cliff Richards, Oliver Newton John had both represented the country. The UK won the contest in 1976 with Brotherhood of Man which become a poplar. In 1970's it was uncommon for the UK to finish outside of the top 10. Another big show during the 1970's was Doctor Who, who during the 70's had two different actors to play the lead role with Jon Pertwee from 1970 to 1974 and Tom Baker from 1974 to 1981 at the same time 70's audience was introduce to Sarah Jane Smith would became the longest serving Doctor who companion and most loved by the fans. compare to 2015 where reality TV is more bigger and the music industry has more change to pop and RnB and TV programme such as Doctor Who are not as popular as it was in the 70s with the BBC celebrates 10 years of Doctor Who's relaunch in 2005 and the Eurovision is seen more as a joke and not taken as seriously by the BBC and British Viewers.
Poplar films in the 70's was Saturday Night Fever staring John Travolta the film included songs by the Bee gees, John Travolta become a icon for then for the dancing that was in the film which encourage people to dance the same way at discos.
Horror films became more poplar with films such as Jaws which introduced new camera angle for the when the shark attacks, other horror films such a Halloween was also released during the 70's. Also the first star wars film was released were science fiction was becoming more of a poplar genre.
Society - In the 1970's there was a lot of strike from miners to postmen to dustmen so rubbish would pile up on the streets and post was mounting up but not delivered. with the miners on strike the power would go off so several hours a day. In 1973 Prime Minister Edward Heath introduce a 3 day week to conserve the power til the miners went back to work.
During the 70's there was a change in society as the generation were from the baby boom so there were more adults which in turn created more violence. Also at this time many feminine and gay rights group was founded. For most of the 70's Britain was in a recession as in 1971 the currency change to a decimal format which made the pound easier to used as new coins such as 1/2p, 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 50p as well as £1 note were introduced within 3 weeks after decimalisation day most of the old currency had gone out of circulation. Also during the 70's the cold war between USA and USSR was still going which put fear in people as Europe was split into two sides with Western Europe being Capitalist and Eastern Europe being Communists.
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| My Dad's Medal from Northern Ireland |
During the 70's racism was high, but also in 1977 the country celebrated Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee, but at this time people were politically divided between right and left wing parties during the 70s the balance of power bounced between the Conservatives and Labour party with the Conservatives in 1979 making British History with Margaret Thatcher becoming the first female Prime Minister.
When you compare the 1970's to 2000s/2010s society has changed with people not as friendly towards one and other as they were, with countries on high national alert with terrorism with 9/11 in 2001 at New York's World Trade Centre and the 7/7 bombings on London Underground, but social media has become very poplar with Facebook and Twitter and the fact technology has advance with mobile phone and computing. But there is one thing that has happen in the 1970's and 2000's/2010's that Britain had a recession with the credit crunch in 2008 but also at the same time between the 1970's and 2000s'/2010's Britain relationship with Europe with the country like to keep on the side line when it comes to Europe.
Author - Find me is written by author Olwen Wymark. She was an American writer and playwright. Her full maiden name is Olwen Margaret Buck, she was born on the 14th February 1932 in Oakland California. She attended Pomona College from 1949-1951 before moving to London and studying at University College London from 1951 to 1952.
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| Olwen Wymark |
Wymark also did radio work for the BBC in the 1970s and 1980s.
What inspired her to write 'Find Me'?
Wymark spent time with Verity parents at the time of writing "Find me", Verity was in Rampton Secure Hospital in Retford, Nottinghamshire. Wymark was giving in depth interviews and access to Verity writing.
Wymark's plays were centred around complex human relationships, Wymark's work was influenced by the place she loved.
Mental Health - When the play is set in 1977 the current Mental Health Act which government was using was the Mental Health Act of 1959. The Act was design to make treatment voluntary and inform and were compulsory to give it a proper legal framework and made as a medical decisions and to move treatment, where possible away from institutional care to that in the community.
The Act of 1959 repealed the Lunacy and Mental Act of 1890 and Act of 1930 also the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 and the Act of 1938.
The Act of 1959 abolished the category of "Moral Imbecile" which was introduced in 1913.
Compared to 2015 where the current Mental Health Act that the government uses is the Mental Health Act 2007 compared to 1977 one of the changes that the 2007 Act change is that Electroconvulsive Therapy must not be given to a patient who has capacity to refuse consent to it. it can only be given to an incapacitated patient.
Rehearsal
For our performance of "Find Me" we looked though the script to find a scene that we could performed that involved a minimum of five characters as a group we found to different extracts that we like but when reading through the first one which involved Verity family we found that the scene would be hard to performed. The second scene that we like as a group was the scene where Verity parents try to get Verity sent to mental hospital as a group we found that scene make fully uses of all five actors but did involve two actors multi rolling.
As a group we found that this scene would be interesting to adapt in the likes of stage the scene but as well it tested our interpretation of the characters and their relationships. once reading through the script for this scene we found that we had to change two lines around for the two doctor to make the scene more sense in our heads.
Once we did that we set our characters
Natalia portrayed Verity
Tom portrayed Edward (Verity's Dad)
Kat portrayed Jean (Verity's Mum)
Amelia portrayed Nurse and Registrar
Ryan portrayed Clerk and Doctor 1 and 2
When I was thinking of my interpretation of my characters I thought back to my own experiences at the doctors with the ways that they talk to patients. the research that i did ...
Clerk- I base the Clerk on my receptionist at my local doctors who doesn't seem to care much with their jobs and has a attitude when she talks to me at the desk or on the phone so when i put this into context when the Clerk is talking to Verity's parents I portrayed the character was an attitude of why I am here as the characters is working on a bank holiday and the tone of voice with a negative tone to make the parents feel even more bad.
Doctor - I based the Doctor on my own doctor who is clam and takes time with his patients have has sympathy for them which I did though a reassuring tone of voice when the character was talking to Verity's parents but at the same I backed up the tone of voice with gesture by touching Jean shoulders when I was reassuring her to make her feel better.
When we started to stage the extract i suggest that the stage should be divided in to five sections and that each section represented a different room within the hospital which show the journey that Verity's parent travelled to get treatment for Verity. Also I suggested that Verity should be placed center stage with a chair where she could move around to show her cell but also that Verity is also in present day when everyone around her is in the past to show the whole scene a memory which shows to the audience that Verity is re-living the past.
Another suggestion that I came up with was when the nurse takes Verity's parents to the Clerk that they walk though Verity's cell as the nurse talks a moves Verity which could be seen by the audience as the same seat Verity was sitting on when her parents were talking to the nurse but also when the nurse walks though that Verity only walks three steps and does an action to show that she has hit the wall to bring back to the context that Verity is in present day in a cell.
Another suggest that me and Amelia came up with was for the last part with the doctor and the nurse that the registrar was start off downstage right and the doctor downstage left and Verity and her parents center stage that me and Amelia would move closer to Verity every time that we asked a question with Tom and Kat move their heads to face us to show that they were getting closer for Verity to get treatment.
Compared to 2015 where the current Mental Health Act that the government uses is the Mental Health Act 2007 compared to 1977 one of the changes that the 2007 Act change is that Electroconvulsive Therapy must not be given to a patient who has capacity to refuse consent to it. it can only be given to an incapacitated patient.
Rehearsal
For our performance of "Find Me" we looked though the script to find a scene that we could performed that involved a minimum of five characters as a group we found to different extracts that we like but when reading through the first one which involved Verity family we found that the scene would be hard to performed. The second scene that we like as a group was the scene where Verity parents try to get Verity sent to mental hospital as a group we found that scene make fully uses of all five actors but did involve two actors multi rolling.
As a group we found that this scene would be interesting to adapt in the likes of stage the scene but as well it tested our interpretation of the characters and their relationships. once reading through the script for this scene we found that we had to change two lines around for the two doctor to make the scene more sense in our heads.
Once we did that we set our characters
Natalia portrayed Verity
Tom portrayed Edward (Verity's Dad)
Kat portrayed Jean (Verity's Mum)
Amelia portrayed Nurse and Registrar
Ryan portrayed Clerk and Doctor 1 and 2
When I was thinking of my interpretation of my characters I thought back to my own experiences at the doctors with the ways that they talk to patients. the research that i did ...
Clerk- I base the Clerk on my receptionist at my local doctors who doesn't seem to care much with their jobs and has a attitude when she talks to me at the desk or on the phone so when i put this into context when the Clerk is talking to Verity's parents I portrayed the character was an attitude of why I am here as the characters is working on a bank holiday and the tone of voice with a negative tone to make the parents feel even more bad.
Doctor - I based the Doctor on my own doctor who is clam and takes time with his patients have has sympathy for them which I did though a reassuring tone of voice when the character was talking to Verity's parents but at the same I backed up the tone of voice with gesture by touching Jean shoulders when I was reassuring her to make her feel better.
When we started to stage the extract i suggest that the stage should be divided in to five sections and that each section represented a different room within the hospital which show the journey that Verity's parent travelled to get treatment for Verity. Also I suggested that Verity should be placed center stage with a chair where she could move around to show her cell but also that Verity is also in present day when everyone around her is in the past to show the whole scene a memory which shows to the audience that Verity is re-living the past.
Another suggestion that I came up with was when the nurse takes Verity's parents to the Clerk that they walk though Verity's cell as the nurse talks a moves Verity which could be seen by the audience as the same seat Verity was sitting on when her parents were talking to the nurse but also when the nurse walks though that Verity only walks three steps and does an action to show that she has hit the wall to bring back to the context that Verity is in present day in a cell.
Another suggest that me and Amelia came up with was for the last part with the doctor and the nurse that the registrar was start off downstage right and the doctor downstage left and Verity and her parents center stage that me and Amelia would move closer to Verity every time that we asked a question with Tom and Kat move their heads to face us to show that they were getting closer for Verity to get treatment.
