Performance Evaluation

Today was our final performance, which we have spent about five weeks preparing for, but only have had one rehearsal a week. We spent the whole day today rehearsing and trying to polish everything off, including learning lines and working out transitions. Before today, we hadn't put all the sections together and no one was certain about how it would work being performed in the library.  We did two run through in the library, after working through the piece in a rehearsal room and got notes from our directer, which helped to clean up any last minute problems. With out the run through, we would have struggled to do the performance, because it gave us a clear idea of what we each needed to take responsibility for and what our ques were.

We started the piece down in the foyer, talking to the audience about our favorite book character. I think this was an effective opening because we started off by breaking down the fourth wall and interacting with the audience, reminding them we are just actors. By telling them about our favorite book characters it gave the actors and audience an opportunity to find common ground and get  the audience thinking about their favorite book characters and how those books have affected them. The opening could have been made even better if there were more audience member to talk to and if every actor had a prop or piece of costume to show their book characters, instead of just a few actors. We were also given the direction to walk around in the same physicality of our character, which no one did. Exaggerated physicality is a Brecht technique and is useful to add comedy and confuse the audience. 

We used the library because it suited our piece, which was on the topic of education, libraries and books. I library was also effective in Brechtian terms because it is a nontraditional performance space, which would get the audience to think and alienate them. The layout of the library meant that the audience could travel round, following the path of the play, without all the cation being revealed all at once. Actors could move to an aisle of books whilst one scene was happening by the desk and give the audience an element of surprise. It also meant that the audience didn't  get too comfortable in one  place or become to immersed in the drama, which is what Brecht would aim for, so that the audience would question, instead of turn off. 

All the people who did a section of 'spine', wore the same denim jacket to show that we were all the same character. we also did an exercise in the morning to find a strong physicality for Amy and the old woman. We established that Amy would have her arms crossed and put all her weight over to one leg and the old woman would be stooped over with one hand on her back. We applied the knowledge we learnt from our character and gesture exercises, to create a strong, over the top physicality. However, by the time we came to do our run troughs, we were concentrating on ebering our ines and putting on the denim jacket, so we didnt get into the physicalty. I triedto cross my arms and give my charcater a cockney accent but I didn't commit to the exagerated physicalty. this meant taht mine and the other 'spine' monologues became more naturalistic, instead of brecthtian.  

I think that the strongest part of the performance was the end section, where we had the scene on the school bus and Malala got shot. I think this was so effective because it included the whole cast and we used physical theatre. The groups standing either side of the bus, who dropped the books to make a gun shot sound, all listened to one another and did everything in time. When Malala was shot, all the girls rushed to her and lifted her above our heads. We improved this part after our first run through, by lifting her as high as we could, instead if just by our heads, which meant that it was much more engaging to watch.

I feel that with more preparation time, this performance  could have been improved. Having this extra time would have meant that we could work on creating stronger characters and put in sections that we began to create, but never got time to fit them in. The material we had was good, but I feel that the peice was a bit minimal. Some members of the cast wrote monologues from the point of view of members of the community who rely on libraries. I think these monologues would have been good to incorporate, whilst the audience were coming in or maybe before the Malala section. 

To conclude, I think that our performance was affective because we applied Brecht's techniques, including signs and coming out of character. We used 'spas' to add comedy to the piece, so that the audience didn't become overwhelmed with too many facts. The performance ran smoothly and if anyone did forget their lines, they improvised, so that it wasn't obvious to the audience. It could have been improved by adding more interesting transitions and bulking out the peice with more sections. I think that if lines had been learnt earlier, we would have spent more time in rehearsals devising more stuff, instead of correcting the stuff we already had. I think that in order to make the audience question the subject, we should have done more things to alienate them, including exaggerated gestures and physicalities. 

Lesson 4

In our lesson today we began to think about each part of our library performance. The piece will be made up of mini scenes each one separated by a section of the play 'Spine', which is one continuous monologue and has been split up and given to some of the actors. In the lesson we established the contents of the play;

• Malala scene
• Nazi book burning scene
• The a-z of libraries (song and flip board)
• Library interviews from friends/ family members
• Pink Floyd- We Don't Need No Education 
• Matilda scene 
• Spine monologues 

I was given the section with the flip board, where me, Olivia and Sidonie will talk the audience through the a-z of libraries. Each letter of the alphabet will have a word that is connected to libraries. The words are: 

1. Audio books                                     
2. Borrow
3. Comics
4. Dictionary
5. Encyclopedia 
6. Fiction
7. Government
8. History
9. Information
10. Journals
11. Knowledge
12. Lend
13. Movies
14. Newspapers
15. Open
16. Plays
17. Quiet
18. Resources
19. Study 
20. Travel guides
21. Useful
22. Variety
23. Words

We also created a song and small dance routine to introduce the a-z of libraries section. We are taking our inspiration from cabaret dancers, who are over the top and use a lot of jazz hands! We will start off with our back to the audience, then turn round one by one, saying 'a', then 'b', then 'c'. We will begin to click and start off singing 'the a-z of libraries' quietly, then get louder until we are really loud. Then Sidonie will sing the last line and me and Olivia will turn to her and tell her to 'sshhhhh', as if we were in a library.  

We also created another scene where there is a group of us who start off by being the Hitler youth. We have one arm up in the air in a Nazi solute, then as an ensemble we will slowly bring our arms down and  start a sequence of each person saying the uses of books. We will have books in our hand and when each actor gives a use of a book, we will all do an action, using our book,  to go with that use. The order is :

1. Edgar - "books can give you shelter"
2. Will - "books can inspire you"
3. Sidonie - "books can shield you"
4. Mani - "books can make you stand tall"
5. Hector - "books can be a weapon"
6. Nicole - "books can console you"
7. Olivia - "books can comfort you"
8. Delaniey - "books can distract you"
9. Eleanor - "books can educate you"

Lesson 3- Political Protest Evaluation

We performed our political protest in the foyer and set up our space so that we had a board of posters, with statistics and facts, on the wall behind the tory tuck shop. The tory tuck shop was a table with medicines, bandages and blood donors on it, with signs and offers such as ' tory cut special offer' on them. I was the conservative representative who was in charge of the tuck shop, trying to persuade people to buy medicine at extortionately high prices, to make up for the cuts that have been made. I gave people the excuse for the cuts as 'David Cameron needing his holiday this year!' Whilst I tried to con people into buying the medicine, the other people in my group acted as beggars, who were actually supposed to be doctors and nurses, but because of redundancy, salary cuts and budgets being slashed, they had resorted to begging from members of the public. When Sidonie came, having a fit and needing urgent medical attention, the beggars tried to help her by coming to me and trying to get me to give them things with the small amount of money they had raised. I refused saying that the NHS budget wouldn't allow for things to be given away, even if it was an emergency and I tried to clear Sidonie out the way because it would be 'bad press' for the conservatives.

The strengths were that people gave us money because the doctors, who were begging, argued the case strongly enough that the audience felt they should donate. Many members of the audience were intrigued by the tory tuck shop and stopped to listen. They also questioned and argued with the points I was making from a conservative point of view, which is good because the purpose of Brechtian theatre is to get people to question. When we rehearsed we made sure that we had lots of material that lasted about five minutes and that we could repeat. We worked out a smooth way to reset, which was subtle and didn't ruin the piece. I felt confident with the statistics and facts, because I had done my research and I could give proof to back up my answers if anyone questioned me. There was always a crowd and we never had a dead moment, when no one was watching us. The large crowd  gave me energy and motivated me to get my argument across.

I felt that there were a lot of elements that we could have improved on if we had rehearsed for longer and had more time to try out different ideas. There were also things that we hadn't accounted for, such as there being a huge crowd, constantly streaming through the foyer. this meant that it was very noisy and even when I projected my voice, it was very hard to be heard.  I ended up shouting to be heard above the crowd, which meant that I was damaging my voice and it was very painful for the rest of the day. At some points the doctors, who were walking around in the crowd, were very far away from the tuck shop, which meant it was unclear that they were part of the same performance. We didn't get the space we originally wanted, which was to have it in front of the window on the right side of the doors. We wanted this space because we could put posters up in the window and they would have been the main focus, however we got a space with a wall that already had lots of the school's posters on it, which meant our's weren't the main focus. We were doing the same material over and over again in half an hour, so towards the end it was hard to keep the momentum up. 

 

 

 

 

 

Political Protest Final Plan

We are going to have a tory tuck shop, which will have various medicines in it, for ridiculously high prices. I will standing at the tuck shop, representing the Tories, trying to sell people all these drugs, that the NHS can't afford because of cuts that have been made. I'll give reasons for why people should buy the medicines, by using statistics that I've found. I'll dress in a blazer, to give the impression of a politician.
Meanwhile Olivia, Ellie and Gemma will be going around the crowd, in front of the tuck shop, begging for money for the NHS. They will hold cups with 'NHS' labels on them and, although they will look like beggars, they will actually be struggling doctors and nurses, who have had too many cuts made to their departments. I will be trying to move them, because they are bad publicity for the Tories.
About half way through, Sidonie will come in and fall in front of the tuck shop. She will have a fit and the doctors and nurses will rush to help her. they don't have any medicine to give her, so will come to me with the few coins they have in their cups and beg me to give them the drugs for less then I am selling them for. I will refuse, saying that they should have handled their budget more carefully. We will argue, the doctors will be telling me that too much has been cut and I will tell them that the cuts are necessary.
As a consequence of me refusing to help them, Sidonie will die and have to be taken off. I will carry on as if nothing has happened, the doctors will continue to beg, then we will reset.

Behind the tuck shop we will create posters, that give clear statistics of what has been cut and what there is not enough of in the NHS. The posters will have been made for the doctors, in a protest against the conservatives. I will be trying to cover them up, because I don't want the truth to be revealed about how many cuts the conservatives have made.

Props list:

• cups
• coins
• medicine boxes and bottles
• bandages
• fake blood
• aprons for the doctors
• a table for the tuck shop
• posters
• a blazer
• hoddies for the doctors to wear over their aprons when they are begging

Brecht Research

"Art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality but a hammer with which to shape it."

Bertolt Brecht was born in 1898 in Germany. He served in the first world war as a medical orderly and when he returned, disgusted by what he had seen during the war, he went on to pursue a career in theatre. He wrote many plays before the Nazis came to power and formally removed his citizenship. In 1941 Brecht became resident in the USA, whilst back in Germany his plays were being burnt and he was cut off from German theatre. Whilst in exile, Brecht wrote some of his most famous plays, such as The Caucasian Chalk Circle and The Good Woman Of Setzuan. Brecht left the United States in 1947 after having had to give evidence before the House Un-American Activities Committee and returned to Europe. During this time he wrote his most important theoretical work.  By the time of his death in 1956, Brecht had established the Berliner Ensemble and was regarded as one of the greatest theatrical practitioners.

Lesson 2

Gestus -a combination of gesture and gist

Gestus exercises 

We created three freeze frames, the first and last one was seeing a group of soldiers at the end of a war. The middle one was when they saw a dead body and we could decide how they reacted. The freeze frames revealed the soldiers attitude to the end of the war and to the dead body. They allowed the audience to think 'Did the soldiers win or loose?' and 'what was the relationship they had with the dead man, was he a friend or enemy?'  The exercise made me understand why gestus is used, which is because they are an expression of social attitudes, mostly highlighted through a freeze frame, slow motion or highlighted in a different way, like music or lighting. The change of pace during this this expression of attitude is important, because it make the audience re examine what they are looking at. 

Spas- fun
Spas is the fun element of gestus. Brecht has a sense of play in his performance to make them more interesting and engaging. By having a sense of play, he is saying that within all the serious stuff, he wants there to be comedy. He wanted the actors and audience to enjoy themselves, otherwise it would become really dull, covering such serous subject matters. 

The snobs exercise 
The snob exercise was used to demonstrate how and why Brecht uses play in his performances. In the exercise we got into groups of about five, with one person being the  high status character, and the others being their loyal servants. The character of high status would walk around the room, making it clear what the wanted from their servants through gestus, not words. This exercise was fun because the servants had to do things for the other person that they wouldn't normally do and they were being asked to do amusing things, like fan their master or give them a massage. The person in charge could play with what they wanted. In this exercise we were still able to make a political comment, but we used spas to add entertainment.  
This  helped me understand how a comment on society or an individual, can still be translated to the audience, but with the actors having a sense of play, it will add another dimension to the performance and make sure that they don't turn their attention away because of the serious theme. 

Signs to alienate the audience 
In Bercht's plays, there is usually a sign at the beginning of the scene telling the audience what is about to happen.  This takes away the suspense, making sure the audience don't get involved in the unfolding drama. Once they find out what is about to happen, they will look more closely at HOW it happens. The signs are another reminder that all the audience are watching is a made up piece of performance and the main reason they are watching it, is to find out the consequences of the actions and question those actions.  

Political Protest Research

Our political protest is about cuts to the NHS being made by the conservatives. I looked on the internet to do research on our topic and found articles on the subject...

Last year's survey found that social care budgets had been cut by 12% in cash terms under the coalition government, while demand for services had grown by 14%, largely because of the ageing population. Councils are forecasting a £4.3bn black hole in social care funding in England by 2020 (The Guardian, June 2nd 2015)

A cut of £200 million in Local Authority public health budgets which fund many services such as school nursing, screening programmes, and smoking cessation programmes – despite recognition by the boss of NHS England of the need for “a radical upgrade in prevention and public health”.  It is feared that this cut will not only affect preventative and public health services but will also have a serious knock on effect on NHS healthcare services (www.patients4nhs.org.uk )

With mental health beds reduced by 8% since 2010, Winstanley warns there is no time to lose and that without action more people will have to travel miles for a appropriate care. “Even worse, thousands of people, including children, end up in police cells each year because they can’t get the treatment they need,” (The Guardian Wednesday 13th may 2015)

26 different treatments for breast, bowel, prostate and other cancers will cease to be funded from November this year. (The Independent, Friday 4 September 2015)

“If you get rid of support staff, their work does not disappear. Instead, it will mean frontline staff picking up extra paperwork and spending less time with patients." (The Telegraph, 04 Aug 2015)

According to senior health officials; the NHS England are looking at a funding gap in the next financial year of an astonishing £2bn. (www.trisofthealth.co.uk) 

Labour said that health service finances have "deteriorated on the Government's watch"