Q3: How did you and your group explore the possibilities of form, structure and performance styles?
Today we did three improv scenes inrelation to our characters: In the pub, in the library and in the supermarket. The pub scene didnt work very well as we werent really sure how our characters would behave, the library scene worked well as i really found out how ditzy and stupid Lizzie is. In the supermarket scene maria was really good as thinking she was above the whole of saimsburys, she thought sainsburys was below her and we should go to waitrose instead.
We also discussed how two ways in which we could possibly run our peice the first was have a scripted part in the begginning and then have the middle and climax as us as characters and then return to the scripted thing at the end OR we could chop and change into and out of us being actors throghout the play, so that the play's climax and the climax of us as friends came at the same time.
The second way of doing it could be possibly problematic because it would probably involve writing our own play so we would write one thing for offstage relationships and one thing for onstage relationships. This could be good because we could make our onstage characters very different from our offstage ones but it would be complicated as it would mean not only devising our piece but also creating an entire other scripted thing on top of that.
The first way of doing it i think is probably my preference because we have decided that we'd quite like to set it in 1990, this way of doing it would make it easier to add that into our peice ad we can research actual historical facts that happened and put them into our piece we can also research the different classes, and as our characters are all quite different, have the three characters coming from different social backgrounds and how that would affect our relationships.
Emily,
ReplyDeleteWell done on your blog so far - you write very much in a "stream of consciousness" which can be very beneficial for getting everything you are thinking down on paper - however, I would really like you try to be as specific and concise as possible in your writing of your ideas/explorations - this will really help you when it comes to writing your final SWED and keeping within the word count.
I think if you do write your own piece of theatre for the characters to act out, maybe this could spur on a situation that might have repercussions in their personal relationships?
Your comment about not knowing how your characters react in a pub situation makes me think that you might need to focus more on your character development before your start putting them into scenes - you could also do research by visiting different places that they might go to yourself?
I recommend watching "Fresh Meat" on Channel 4 - wed 10pm to get some inspiration re: students living together with completely different personalities. Ms Dunn also suggested a play going on in Brixton next month which explores very similar relationships - maybe we could organise a trip?!