Week 5 devising

This week was focusing on our monologues because of our hot seating exercises last week we thought that putting a monologue together will our character get a back story therefore we can express our characters more. My character is younger than all of the other contestants. She lied about her age to get on the show which make the hosts question her age. Violet my character explains more to the audience about how she was kidnapped first so the understanding can be discovered to the audience about how did violet get there and why they chose her. Violet was kidnapped in her bedroom as she heard a bang whilst she was sleeping. 

After that we then mapped out the structure in order of scenes to make it clear on what to do and what scene is next. As we were filming next week we thought that we needed to think about costume for the final game. The costume for my character would be in pjamas as she was kidnapped there. The pjamas i imagined are brightly coloured because she is a creative but moody little girl and she might be grumpy because she has been woken up in the night. For my hair as my character is younger I thought about wearing a headband because of the younger look that i am trying to create. Maybe it is a headband that her family bought when she was a little girl and she has kept it since. 

Our targetd for next week are to finish and polish all of our scenes. 

Week 4 Devising

This week changed our ideas as we have turned our idea into a more dark but interesting way to start the piece. The game is turned into a life or death situation. Now it has spilt into 4 contestants instead of 2 couples. This way it shows more about their character. The first game is truth or dare which the hosts threaten the contestants with violence to tell them the truth as they will reveal a weakness about them.

We had feedback on certain parts of or piece suggesting good ways to improve our piece and how we will progress further. The feedback commented about having theme tune that links with the theme. I researched some theme tune however I didn't feel that they were right for the piece that we created as as most of them had a lot of cymbals clashing which made me feel like they were upbeat when the theme is a dark game to play. Luckily we found a theme tune that works with the audience and the game. The feedback said to us about the theme tune and it effective it was to fit the piece in. Personally I thought that the theme tune made the piece even more scary and dark because when the hosts came out it was more interesting. Also backstage there was some banging which was improvised however I think that the banging worked backstage as the audience jumped at the beginning.

 Originally we had an idea about bringing the contestants from the audience. However we have changed the opening slightly to have the contestants to open the piece to stop to save time and create more of a story for the contestants and how they came into this game. Also the contestants will have masks to restrict one of their senses to feel more uncomfortable. The opening scene will become more physical and a chance for the contestants to introduce their character in a more physical approach rather than walking on stage naturally.

 We have now worked all the rounds in the one game. It was a great to get the storyline of the piece. Game one was a truth or dare. This game is allowing the characters to show a weakness to the audience by being honest with them self. For example the first question is who their first kiss was. The contestants all answer differently which reveals to the audience about their character. My character is an aggressive, argumentative girl called Violet. Violet acts like she is have had her first kiss by showing confidence and answering back to the hosts. However Violet says that she has a foot fetish. Violet is embarrassed to tell the truth as it is a unusual thing to do.

Before the truth or dare game scene. I thought of a way to introduce the contestants in a physical approach. The performance starts with four chairs. The four chairs have the four contestants with masks and they are tied up. The theme tune starts and the four contestants try to burst their bubble. I think that’s what the game is about. The game is about being honest and finding who you are. A sense of identity. So the first scene is the four contestants attempting to get out of the rope but maybe they are trying to burst the bubble but they are bursting the bubble the bubble of their selves.

This approach to the darker side of the game is a good way to show a game show as it has been done before and it is sinister and violent as the hosts are threatening violence with a glass bottle. 

Game two is the obstacle course. We originally had four people to make an obstacle using their body and the contestants have to go through the obstacle. To save time we thought that instead of all four contestants go through the same obstacle we thought that we would make one obstacle for each contestant. Then we thought that we could make a bigger obstacle by using four people instead of two and two. We thought of an even better idea. To add to the obstacle we can have bamboo sticks. Bamboo sticks make interesting shapes that makes it harder for the contestants to conquer it. As you can see in this photo the sticks make the photo more interesting as it is ore imaginative to go through rather than go through people. Also there is more space for people to be more creative because you can create loads of levels and teamwork is required. 

The third game is exciting. The third game is what I am looking forward to the most. It is to get out of a rope blindfolded on top of the bridge.The third game is my favourite as it is the finale of the piece plus it has some much suspense and tension building for the audience. I think that the setting leads right back to the title of the game. Also we are adding a projector for footage. The video will include the contestants been driven to the setting on the bridge so it shocks the audience and shocks the audience about death. Death is a scare for everyone. Fear is effect that happens to many people when they see something shocking.

Now we have the games we focus on the characters. Hot seating is a great technique for getting to know your character because it allows you to think about what your character would say and how they show them self when they come in to be interviewed. Some members of my group struggled with this task as they weren't focusing enough such as the excitable contestant wasn't believable. I was trying to help members of my group to picture something happy. Something that makes you happy. However this didn't work as she still walked what I felt was believable enough.  

Targets for next week are to polish our final parts for the performance and find out more about your character by looking in a mirror and playing with different facial expression and body language. 

Week 3 devising

  

At the end of last week we had some feedback of the performance so far which was the beginning of game one out of the three. The feedback was that the 4 hosts was a bit confusing as the obserber thought that there were two couples instead but it was only suppose to be one couple. We then discussed it and thought of many ideas such as 5 contestants 1 host. I thought that this idea wouldnt work at it isnt a normal sturcture of a game. We then moved to another idea which is two hosts and two couples. We all agreed on this as it can be interesting into the relationship between the people the make the couple.

Before all that we thought that we could kidnapp one person from the couple to be taken away whilst the other person answered the questions. This is what we came up with to take the girl of the couple off stage. 

I thought that this was a great way to get the character mae off stage as it is fast and physical and goes with the music contrasting with the mood of the scene 

Now we had a solid idea of the structure of our piece we then went on to start the opening. Our idea was to contrast the winners of the game and the couple that lost. Contrasting the emotions from happiness to sadness is a great way to put in at the same scene is it works and makes the audience understand the consequences of the games. Also we had the song "A Drop in the Ocean" by Ron Pope which brings a atmosphere to the piece and draws more emotions. The song shows love is a strong point because it says "you were my heaven". This shows that a person has lost the love of his life. I thought that it worked really well as one person from the couple is going to be lost. 

Although it was effective with that opening scene it was quicker to have background music. It also creates a atmosphere for the audience and leaves a mystery for the audience about why the sirens going off etc. 

When then went back to round 1 of the game show and this time we added physical expect. However we then showed back what we had feedback. Also all of us didn't like it as it took 10 mins which nearly half of our time to have for the performance. 

Targets
Targets for next week is to polish up the rounds of the game.  

Week 2 Devising

This week we made up a manifesto to make rules about how we work in the devising process. We came up this.

The manifesto will allow us to have structure whilst we are working. This may help our devising because rules may help us. 

Commedia is a very hard subject to be in as we couldn't that far with it as we had to stick to one main character which was very hard. However we have kept the couples idea as everyone agrees with it as the storyline will work with it. So now we have decided to go more naturalistic. I thought that naturalistic was a bit boring so we have made the play more interesting and made something outside of the box to make the audience awake to watch the performance. I thought about making it as a quiz show. The quiz show idea makes it more exciting to watch and it is a unusual concept but it is simple to follow. Everyone agreed about this idea. Also this idea has a storyline as each couple has a TV show game. The first quiz show idea was a Mr and Mrs. Part of the story would be to have TV presenter

For example Graham Norton is a upbeat character who hosts a chat show and has a happy approach towards celebrities. He hosted competitions such as the musical Oliver wanted a Nancy.  The TV presenter job is to make it funny. The way he uses his character makes everyone laugh. 

This is a example of what happens on Mr and Mrs. It tests the knowledge of each other and it shows the chemistry between the two people. 

Our target this week is to organize the structure of the games and how we are presenting our idea into a more physical way.

Week 1 Devising

Before we knew our stimulus we had some tips to devising. The top tips were very useful as we have never experienced devising as a project before. 

This picture is what we were given as our top tips. We took these top tips on board to our process if devising. The main top tip that we kept on going was to play games to get ideas. For me this was a great tip as it encourages the group to stay focused and alert on the task. 

This week we were given our stimulus to work with for our final piece. The stimulus was a piece of music.The music was Ode to Billy Joe by Bobby Gentry. When I first listened to it I thought that was a country atmosphere as it had an upbeat feel to the music. If I was to give Ode to Billy Joe a colour I would give it brown because it is a dark story to the song however it is a little bit lighter in the sense of the plot of the piece. After a couple of times listening to the music we all put ourselves into groups of six. The lyrics tell us that Billy Joe has committed suicide as it says "And now you tell me that Billy Joe's jumped of the tallahatchie bridge". Then we started to think of dark stories that might fit to the story.

This picture is the mindmap of ideas that we came up with. The mindmap shows branches of different things that link to the main subject. 

My groups first starting point was to mindmap everyones ideas and thoughts to the song. One of our ideas was to make our performance abstract by linking it to gossip and perhaps rumours around a area. After mindmapping we then started a warm up to help devising our first scene. Also in our mindmap we thought that commedia would link successfully to our ideas. One of our ideas was linking to gossip and keeping a secret. Following this idea we started to 

act a scene to see what our improvising takes us too. The improvisation we came up with was two zannis and one pierot. The improvisation was a great start. As the zannis were energetic and enthusiastic to try to cheer the pierot up. The genre was a black comedy as it can be comedy because of the commedia and dark because at the end of the scene one of the zannis says "im going to jump off a bridge. 

After the scene of improvisation we thought that the story needs to be with couples of people. One couple is the best friends. The second couple is a romantic couple and the third is a male friendship. We thought that different couples will make it more interesting. 

Our target was to think more about the 

storyline of the play as we had one scene. 

Kneehigh Theatre Company Business

Kneehigh Theatre Company

What is Kneehigh Theatre Company?

Kneehigh Theatre Company is one of the national theatre companies and Cornwall. Kneehigh has performed to audiences throughout Cornwall, UK and beyond. Kneehigh have built a reputation for creating popular theatre for audiences. In 1980 a village school teacher started running theatre workshops in his spare time. As time went by people started to get involved such as a farmer, a sign writer from Tesco etc. There were no actors in this group. Performances were slipped in causally and finally the production of shows.

Kneehigh then created a theatre for families in locations within their local area. Some were created on cliff tops, in preaching pits etc. Now Kneehigh are currently known as Britain’s most exciting touring theatre companies. Kneehigh create a broad picture of things using multi-talented group of performers such as performers, directors, sculptors, engineers etc. They use a wide range of tools for the performances. For example the use arts forms and media to add something to the production. It create a spontaneous feel as it is a sense of risk and adventure. It gives a extraordinary dramatic results.

What past shows has Kneehigh performed?

Kneehigh have performed in many shows. In 2011 for example Kneehigh performed ‘The Wild Bride’ which is about a girl who was betrayed by her father. The father is a wicked character. She meets a prince and falls pregnant but then the prince is called to war. Her heart breaks as she finds herself at those pesky cross roads.

Currently Kneehigh are performing internationally ‘Tristan and Yseult’which is a romantic show. Back in the UK Kneehigh are performing ‘Dead Dog in a Suitcase’ and ‘Daphne du maurier’s Rebecca’.

Who runs the company?

There are several associate directors in Kneehigh. There is Simon Baker,Stu Barker, Carl Grose, Simon Harvey, Anna Mari Murphy. Etta Murfitt, Malcolm Rippeth and Steve Tanner. Simon Baker is the sound designer. He has worked with Kneehigh company for many years and has taken part in many projects such as The Red Shoes, The Wild Bride and The Midnight’s pumpkin. Stu Baker is the composer and musical director. Stu has worked extensively with Kneehigh for the past sixteen on shows including Hansel and Gretel, The Bacchae, The wooden frock etc. Carl Grose is the writer. He has worked with kneehigh company for sixteen years too and has written shows including A Matter of Life and Death, Tristan and Yseult.Anna  Maria Murphy is also a writer. Anna has almost been with Kneehigh from the beginning. She has collaborated with Carl Grose to write plays such as Tristan and Yseult. Simon Harvey is the director and performer. Etta Murfitt is choreographer of Kneehigh for shows including Steptoe and Son, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Malcolm Rippeth is the lighting designer. He is designed many shows for Kneehigh including wah wah girls. Steve Tanner is the Photographer. He has been with Kneehigh since before the age of digital.

Red Ladder Theatre Company Business

Red Ladder Theatre Company

What is the Red Ladder Theatre Company

Red Ladder is a radical theatre company who has been around for 45 years. It is known as ‘Britain’s leading national touring companies producing new theatre. The topics they focus on is social change and global justice. Red Ladder exists to create to create theatre using human struggle. Red ladder is grown up through history as it was founded in London 1968. Red Ladder is funded by Arts Council England and by Leeds City Council.

Who runs this company?

There is on artistic director who is Rod Dixon.  He became an artistic director in 2006 following his previous job role which was associate director at Barbican Theatre in Plymouth.  Also he has ran the Hub Theatre School in Cornwall and he has been a actor in several companies.

There is also a producer which is Chris Lloyd. He has been at Red Ladder as a employee for six years. Chris still loves the talent that he works with at the company. Lloyd heard about Red Ladder at the West Yorkshire Playhouse Rosehill Theatre in Cumbria. He spent three years in the south of Spain and ten years in London.

What performances have they done in the past?

Red Ladder have done many performances but last year they performance ‘Playing The Joker’ which is about Eddie Waring attempt to give rugby league a national profile.  Paul Hatt who has a sports media website said that the performance ‘was really inspiring and it was a tenner well spent’.

What performances do they have coming up?

Currently Red Ladder are performing Nicobobinus which is a story about the most incredible child who was named Nicobobinus. He lived in Venice for a long time and he could do anything. The stage said that

   ‘Kate Unwins fine set is rather magically coloured by imaginative projection’

In February the production ‘ we’re not going back’ will be performed which is the era of the 1984/85. This was the miner strike. It is also a ‘hard hitting musical comedy’. There are no miners. Instead we follow the fortunes of three sisters in a pit village.