Week 20: TIE (Storms)

Run-through, and adding some Godber

Whilst we were doing a run-through, we decided that we had just passed over the idea of the gym as a societal pressure on boys and so we decided to add more of a Goberesque section in so that we could highlight the judgement that is placed on boys by others to be in shape. So following the Godber style that we have previously studied, we added in a synchronised sound and then separate stereotypical movements that reflect people working out in the gym. We used the snappy quick movements of the Godber style to make the transitions around the movement flow easily and we made sure that the piece was still able to flow and the story was still present throughout. We made sure that the movement was an appropriate length so that we weren't taking the focus away from the point of the piece and we also added in the movement to reflect the comment that we may need more banter and humour in the piece to keep the audience involved and interested. We also made sure that there was a rhythm to the movement to make each small section have a short focus.

We then had a small discussion about adding in the option of a helpline option in the who could John talk to section and which could trigger replies from John of "It's not that bad, I'm just pissed off" and "I don't even know how to get the numbers," which would allow us to introduce the perception of helplines as something that only people with mental illnesses can use and then when we move onto the group discussion later in the piece, we would address this. We wanted to tell the audience that some of the helplines, like the samaritans, are just there for someone to talk to and they can't form an opinion on what you're telling them because they don't know anything else about your life except what you tell them. We were also thinking of adding it to the list on the powerpoint in order for that discussion and the idea of helplines being introduced earlier in the piece.

Moving on through the piece, we decided that we need a more defined end so that the audience know that the focus has now shifted onto them and what they have learnt from the piece and so we decided to include these lines:

John's life isn't going to get better straight away
But if his friends are there to listen to him
It will make it easier.
John still has a lot of things going on in his life
For example, he'll still get told off when he goes home drunk.
Everybody's got stress in their life and everyone is going to feel like John at some point.
I'm stressed about the way people look at me
I'm stressed about not sleeping
I'm stressed about the future
The point we're making is that having a penis can sometimes get in the way of talking about these things.
What we're going to do now is talk about some issues that have been raised in piece and go over some of the ways you can be a better listener.

Adding in these personal anecdotes allows the audience to relate to the small stresses as real things that are happening in people's lives rather than just a story being told on stage. And the segway makes the piece that they have just seen make more sense and also opens up some discussion starting points for when we go into the audience. 

Week 19: TIE (Primary School)

Review and Feedback

This week, we decided to get what we have done so far reviewed by our teacher just so that we would know that we are going along the right lines and the format of what we want to do is the correct and most beneficial way for the audience to gain the most out of our message. Once we had done the run-through, we all sat down and discussed the feedback that we had been given:

• Good format - Having everything broken down in chapters allows the audience to focus in on one topic and understand what is going on in that topic before responding to it. The chapters also allow the audience to put themselves in different situations and figure out what their feelings are towards that certain situation without having the pressure of everything else.
• Fast paced start - The pace at the start with the dance sequence and the fake fight allows us to engage with the audience and get them to connect with the piece as we are beginning the piece with a lighter start so hopefully they will feel less pressured and not like another assembly they have to sit in.
• Personal Anecdotes - The idea of using personal anecdotes is a good way for us to acknowledge that we have been in the exact same situation and we know that they are scared but we've also been through secondary school and we know what that is like as well. Telling personal stories shows the audience that we can relate to them and they can then use the advice that we are giving them as we know that it works, considering we are in secondary school.

• Execution - Because we are using stories that have personally come from us, we need to deliver the stories in a way that makes it seem more real and show that we know that it's hard at the time but they can get through it. We need to sell it as more real so that the audience believe that its real and we aren't just telling them stories that are fiction.
• Banter - We need to add more banter between us on stage because there isn't enough of a light-hearted tone that the audience will connect with. Areas like when we are picking people to play characters in our stories could be a good time to add in more banter as some people could fight over who was going to play who. Also in a later scene, when Alexis goes to Art club, we could add in more banter there when she is left by herself as she hasn't made an effort to make friends and we can use that humour to express different feelings.
• Crossover- The crossover just after the bell rings that we use to show how busy the corridors could get is quite lateral as we only have people coming in from the sides so we could bring some people in from the diagonal and even through the audience to create the idea of people can come from everywhere not just the sides.
• "Little Worries" - We need a bit more of a scene during the first lesson so that the audience can grasp what the situation actually is and at the moment, due to the fast paced start, we are going through the scenes at a pace where the audience never really have a chance to understand what is going on and then put themselves in that. Currently, the scene is very narrative driven which means that we are missing out on some acting that they could engage with.
• Freeze frames - The idea is good but we need to address their problems more and help them solve them so that the chapter has a conclusion. We thought that we could get each small group to pick 3 worries to cover in the freeze frames and then talk through those worries in the little groups addressing each person that is worried about that particular thing and acknowledging that each person could have the same worries - finding common worries to help them not feel isolated.
• Build a friend - It is hard to show characteristics of a person in a way that will be obvious to the audience that she has taken on their suggestion and having her embody those is problematic and hard to show in a useful way. We thought about giving Alexis a whiteboard to hold and we would get suggestions from the audience as to what a good friend should be like and write them on the whiteboard so that it is more of a visual reminder for them. Also we said that people in the cast could give some examples to guide the audience along.
• Forum Theatre - We need to add in more islands during it so that we have positions to jump to throughout the suggestions from the audience. We need to add in a common interest between the two friends and ask the audience what they think it should be and what the next step in the conversation should be.

So after getting this feedback, we decided to work on the first lesson scene so that we could extend it and we decided to add in some more banter at the start of it so we got the teacher to joke about how many students there are, as there are only 3, to add to the overall atmosphere. 

https://youtu.be/vS6N_JZPqvo

I think that the new version is much better than the original version as we have extended it so that we could add another aside in so that the audience knew what I was feeling at certain points in the scene.

Week 18: TIE (Storms)

Reviewing Changes

Last week, we made some changes to the piece and there was a person missing so we had to use this weeks lesson to go over all of the changes and see if they worked like we wanted them to with everybody here.

We mainly focused on the response that we would have to the audience once they had given us some feedback because we wanted to be more positive especially when they are talking by nodding and possibly making more agreeing sounds so they they feel like their opinion is being both heard and understood. We also agreed that we need more positive reinforcement after the answer has been said and more praise needs to be given about their answer as well as repeating it so that the rest of the audience can also hear it. I feel like we also need to re-say the response in an accepting way to show that the answer that was given was correct and it was also appreciated. Having this positive reinforcement allows both the person who said it and the rest of the audience to open up more because they are being complimented on the work that they have submitted towards the piece. We did a blocky run-through of the piece before concentrating on the section that have audience interactions in them and we all added in more compliments and positive feedback to the audience.

Week 18: TIE (Primary School)

Finishing Chapter 1

In the first 2 hours of working on the piece, we decided to completely finish Chapter 1 and use the rest of our time to plan chapters 2 and 3 so that we could go straight into devising them next week with some starting points to use.

We decided that after my short paragraph about the "Little Fears" that I had we decided to show my first day in school so that they could see the resolutions that came out of it. We then clearly assign people parts for example I say "Caitlin can you be me and Charlotte and Connie, can you be my friends," so that each person is clearly labelled so that the audience can understand who is who in the scenes. We start of with the friends having a small discussion about what lesson they've got next and then we have the rest of the cast coming in from the sides showing the hustle and bustle of the corridors in school and we have "me" being separated from the rest of the friendship group, and therefore getting lost. I then narrate from the sides that I did get lost but it was okay because I found some other people that were lost as well and an older student helped me find where we need to be and "they aren't as scary as you think." We decided to involve all of the small fears that were addressed at the start and so I then say "and the teacher was really chill about us being late as well" showing that you won't get a detention for being late in the first few weeks. We then moved onto the first lesson which allowed us to explore the ideas about no equipment and the work being too hard. We decided that we could facilitate the options that I had about the work being too hard. For example, we thought they might say ask the person next to you, ask the teacher or try and work it out. So we decided that the majority of the group would say ask the teacher and so we made "me" ask the teacher for help so that the situation was resolved in a way that would be easy for them to put into a real life situation.

I then move onto saying "There are lots of things that people might be worried about; these are only a few examples. Now its your guys turn to think about what you're worried about. We're going to split you into some smaller groups and create some freeze frames." We decided that this would be a good time to start getting the group physically involved in the piece and so we decided to ask them to create a simple freeze frame as this is one of the easiest forms of drama yet it can be effective as they can clearly see what is happening. Because they won't know what a freeze frame is we got a person out of the cast to shout out "what's a freeze frame" and I would reply with "Here is an example." and the cats would jump into a freeze frame of a wedding. I would then continue to say "It's like when you pause the tv; there's no movement and no sound, you just use your face and your body. Can someone tell me what this is showing?" We would get answers from the audience to show them how easily they can be understood. We would follow this up with "so now you know what a freeze frame is, lets see if you can make some of your own." And the cast would then separate and take a few students to create their own. We would then show these to the rest of the audience and get them to guess what fear they were trying to show.

Planning Chapters 2 and 3

We then moved onto planning the next two chapters and we decided to call Chapter 2: friendship. This is due to there being so many different outcomes regarding friendships when moving to secondary school and we also have a range of different outcomes regarding people in the cast as well. For example, Alexis moved schools knowing no one and so she was with completely new people, Hannah came with the group of friends that she'd had since reception but then drifted away from them and made new friends, Caitlin didn't start making any friends until February and then Charlotte came and stayed with her group of friends from primary school and also made some new ones. using all of these stories gives us a wide range of options to explore. We decided that we should explore each of the stories through Alexis' as we can have all of the options coming into play throughout her story like she could join Charlotte's group of friends as a conclusion. The conclusion that we want to come to is that everyone can make friends no matter their friendship situation. We wanted to show that it is okay to talk to your family about your problems in school whether that's regarding friendships or anything to do with school and so we thought about having a scene between Alexis and her nan after school and her telling her nan how she feels. We would then build Alexis into what a good friend looks like with suggestions from the audience of what they think makes a good friend for example things like being helpful, confident, smile etc. We would then ask the audience to suggest places that we could let this "new" Alexis meet some new people and then we would put them in that situation and show the audience some of the ways that to approach someone and befriend them.

We would then move onto chapter 3 which we are going to call Bullying as we know that it happens in every secondary school and primary school and we want to tell the audience that it's okay to have that fear and it's okay to be worried about bullying as we know that it happens and we just want to tell them how to deal with it. We would start of with Harriet addressing the fact that we know it happens and we only want to give them some tips on how to avoid it or what to do if they see anyone being bullied. We could then use an anecdote in order to explain the situation and to have a deeper look into the situation and how it was caused. We want to avoid it being like an anti-bullying assembly as we know that all primary schools have many of those across the year and we want it to be different from that. We thought we could use a sliding scale with the different responses that we could have to bully and tie in the aspects of flight or fright as well as doing nothing.