Devising 6

Describe the exercise: Just Be. Give your reaction

The exercise essentially called for you to walk to the center of the room, without portraying or emulating a articular mood or emotion, to simply walk to the center of the room with purpose. Then we had to stand there and just be ourselves. For me it was just as important to be supportive of others doing the exercise as it was to do it myself. When someone finds the courage to stand in front of a class full of people and simply be, completely honestly and without any walls or defenses to hide behind, then it is incredibly important to let them see that they are accepted. I often felt that when someone achieved it whilst looking at me then there was an unspoken understanding, and I think that that is just as much the point of the exercise as allowing yourself to just be. When I did it myself, I was able to quite comfortably just be, as I feel that I am quite centered in myself and who I am. I don't feel any shame or fear about bearing myself to the people around me as I do feel a sense of self acceptance within myself. It's hard to explain, at first I was preparing myself by trying to find the "Right mood" to do it in, but after a while I kind of slipped out of that mind set where I felt that I had to feel a certain way/approach the exercise in a certain way, and I just wiped all of the thought processes away. There were times during the exercise when I would feel a slight connection with one or two people and that brought me a great sense of peace and happiness, which I really enjoyed taking from the workshop

Devising 5

Choose one idea and say what worked and why

I think that the conversation between Scarlett and her manager on the phone, where Greta and she stood back to back and conducted the conversation. I think that it worked particularly well because it portrayes how hopeless Scarlett's situation actually is in the performance and how her manager is completely unwilling to help her. This incorporates the technique of cross cutting, whereby two scenes are staged simultaneously, showing the audience both sides of the conversation and visually portrays how cutthroat the world the characters live in actually is.

What do you want to work on? Do you have any ideas for that work?

I'd like to work on my character's personal traits. I will be stood behind the other characters, slightly raised and overlooking the plotline. My character of a news reporter will be a symbol for the idea of "Big Brother "constantly keeping tabs on the people. I also want her to be very pristine, almost unnaturally so, representing the glossy, happy front that the "Big Brother" keeps, brushing the troubles of the protagonists of the performance under the carpet.

Devising 4

How we developed the idea

We developed the idea by adding more dialogue and including more interaction, this helped to establish the situation that the characters where in. We intend for the audience to empathise with the characters if the homeless man looking for work, setting a world wherein there is vast inequality and need for change.

We improvised various situations and scenes and eventually decided on the scene in which Yunusa is playing a homeless man looking for work, since this one showed not only his struggles but also how other characters react to him. We were able to show the prejudices that the upper classes held towards his character and the subsequent difficulties that he faced.

Devising 3

Homework:

1) how can we improve what we have done in class?

Well we want to give the piece more context, for example the TV Reporter is telling the audience who the characters are and what they are doing, and we're planning on researching into the time frame (early 90's) and adding some more character development

2) what more research do we need to do?

Look into music/movies/art of the time, have a look at cultural changes, read newspaper articles about the global state at the time, just after an economy boom in the late 80's the 90's would be a starting to feel the economic effects of that

3) how can we use what we learned from today's exercises?

Using the improv freeze frame exercises we can improve our group's improvisation skills and add to the work we've already done in expanding the plot line 

Devising 2

Today the group tried improvising work involving the Protest scene. We used dynamics such as freezing, slow motion and becoming aware of the audience. We created about a minutes work of semi improvised work.

Devising 1

What are the main feelings you tried to express?

The emotions we were attempting to portray were the feelings of pain and loss. To communicate with the audience how hopeless the characters felt and how they needed a voice. There was then a transition from pain to empowerment, when the characters raised themselves in protest and used music as their freedom of speech.

1 idea for what you would like to do next in the scene

I would like to somehow find a way to show how the music unified the characters, or perhaps to show how oppressed they felt by their situations/government.