planning the ending scene

In this scene the newby is half way through getting tortured and just about to be killed because the gang think that he is Jamie. All the team except from Meg are in the room.

Just before the team kill the newby, Jamie could enter the scene with a gun and kill everyone in the room, maybe we could do this in slow motion. Once they are all dead Jamie will stand in the middle of the room with the gun staring at the audience. I thought maybe Jamie could hesitates on one of the team members, showing she did love them. Meg will enter and see the one she loves, dead on the floor. Then Meg will pull out a gun, crying, Jamie will be crying too, and Meg will then say "rule number 2: you must never fall in love" and then there would be a black out and all the audience will hear is a gun shot. This will then mean that Meg has become the new Jamie. I then thought we could have a voice over of Meg saying "Jamie is always watching".

character profile-Sam/leader/Jamie

Jamie is the reason the world is so messed up. Everyone believes that Jamie is a man, but it's actually a woman who is disguised as the leader of a rebel gang who's main mission is to take Jamie down. The team are unaware that the leader of there team is actually Jamie, but has just changed her name to Sam.

I have an idea of what my character would look like. I believe she would be classically pretty but with an edge. I think she would be wearing all black with knee high boots, black jeans and a leather jacket. My character would be young, maybe early 20's. She's confident and strong, stubborn and manipulative. I think my character is very intimidating when she wants to be, but can also play the weak character when she wants sympathy.

Weeks Review

This week we devised 4 more scenes. We were able to complete the 2 friendship scene. In these scenes we decided to set it at night time, when the rest of the gang were asleep. We decided that Toby and Kia would have a discussion on there new found love but they are both unable to say who it is. They don't know that they are actually in love with the same person, Jamie. The audience also are unaware they have fallen for the same girl. Then we decided to show mine and Megs friendship scene in the same setting. Meg would be supportive and comforting of Jamie. We also decided that Meg would fall for one of the team members, either Toby or Kia.

We also devised Carl's scene where he becomes suspicious of the newby, thinking that maybe the newly is Jamie. We thought we would make the audience believe that Jamie is the newby, so it completely distracts the audience from finding out who Jamie actually is, making the ending more shocking.

We also changed the training scene. We decided to get rid of the dialogue and make it completely movement based. We added music to the movement piece, the music is up beat and fast, reflecting the Idea of training and hard work.

We then decided to start the love scene. We also wanted to make this movement based. We decided to use a split screen, showing the 2 relationships. I thought we could also include a small dance piece.

weeks review

This week we assigned characters. We had a bit of problem with the love character as both Toby and Ma l wanted to play the character that falls in love with Jamie. We decided that they would both be good at playing this role so we made them both a victim of Jamie's fake love. I think it will be a challenge for me to play an evil character. In all of the plays I have done I have always a good character or a character that never got show their evil side. But Jamie is a deceiving character that plays a twisted game with the terrorists mind and the audiences mind. My character makes.you think she is good but there is always a glimmer of darkness that appears every so often.

The idea having 2 people in love with Jamie is that Jamie plays the 2 best friends against each other but keeps it hidden from the rest of the group. It's her way of breaking up the team.

We also added more detail to the plot. We made it so each character had a scene to themselves, so that everyone is a main part and has a good chance to get the best grade possible. We added another plot twist as well. We decided that Jamie and her best friend Ruby will have a huge argument and the love triangle will fall apart, all of this will be the reason that Jamie decides to kill everyone. When Jamie kills the gang she misses out her best friend Ruby. At the end Ruby enters and kills Jamie, saying that one of the 5 main rules was to never fall in love and Jamie broke that rule. Ruby then finishes the performance saying "Jamie is always watching" therefore hinting that Ruby will become the new Jamie.

I think this twist at the end is a good idea as we don't end with the classic happily ever after. It leaves the audience wondering what will happen next. This week we also created 2 scenes. We firstly created the mission scene. We decided to use soundscape for the mission, the audience will hear the gang communicating via radio. And they will see a small fighting scene at the end. We used a song with a slow tempo and a slightly heavy base to add tension in the room and keep the scene focused mainly on the sound aspect rather than the visual. When doing the sound scape the audience will hear a series of "code words" and small phrases stating wear the cameras are hidden. We may also include gun shot sound effects.

We also created the monologue which the audience will hear at the start of the performance. This monologue explains why life is like this, how the world became dependant on Jamie and why Jamie took over. It will also include small facts about what year it is and dress code of the society. This monologue is really important as this will help the audience understand our play. And it also tells the audience the 5 main rules of Jamie, which are frequently repeated throughout the play.

weeks review

This week we started our new topic, devising. Devising is the complete opposite to script work. You don't have to learn lines and there are no stage directions. Instead we are given a stimulus and we have to create a piece of performance from that. Our stimulus is the sing "Chasing Pavements" by Adele. At first I thought that this would be hard to create a piece from because the song is about a couple dying in a car crash, and I thought that we would only be able to do a piece on car crashes. I didn't realise that we could do our performance based on the title or one line of lyrics. We were then split in to two groups and told to come up with a few ideas.

My group decided to create a spider diagram with "chasing" in the middle. From that we came up with an idea of a twisted dinner party. We're the host has invited strangers to attend dinner and play some games and the winner gets a lot of money. But what the guests don't know is that this game is twisted. It's a game of "would you rather". The questions are life threatening for example "would you rather stab yourself or the person next to you?". And that person would have to either stab herself or the person next to her. This idea relates to our stimulus "chasing" as each contestant is chasing  prize which is the money.  But the problem with our idea is that it is exactly the same as the film "would you rather". So we aren't actually devising, instead we are copying a film which defeats the object of our terms topic. In the next lesson we decided to change our idea, and be more creative.

At the start of this lesson it was extremely hard to think of ideas that aren't already a film or play. We spent at least half an hour thinking of ideas and then deciding either they weren't good enough or they had already been done or they didn't relate to our stimulus. Then I decided we get rid of all our ideas and start fresh. I decided we should start with the little ideas and work our way up. I then asked my group if we wanted our play to be set in the olden days or modern days or in the future. We decided to set it in the future. At that point everyone was full of fresh, New and great ideas.

Our idea is set in the future. The government is completely corrupt and everyone has been stripped of there identities and feelings and emotions. In every single place in England there are camera's. All these cameras are run by a person called Jamie. No one knows who he is or what he looks like, but every one obeys his rules. Which is:
1) no individuality
2) no feeling
3) no love
4) follow your life story given to you at birth
5) always do what Jamie says.
Everyone in England follows these rules. Except from the terrorist/rebellion group. This group of rebels hide out in the basement of the library where there are no cameras, plotting on how they will destroy Jamie. They are "chasing freedom" which relates to our stimulus. The rebels mission is to take out every single camera and then find Jamie and kill him. There are other small details we had included in our performance such as everyone must always wear black in the future. And each announcement from Jamie always ends with "Jamie is always watching".

We then figured out a plot. We thought we would begin with a voice over of Jamie explaining why life is like this, and his 5 main rules. And then we will introduce the main character/ newby of the gang. This then let's the audience know the names and background of each member of the gang. We will the commence on a series of successful mission to destroy the cameras. We also decided to include romance, we want some one from the gang to fall in love with the gang leader who will be female. Close to the end of the play we will have the gang capture who they think is Jamie. And just before they can kill the fake Jamie, the real Jamie will come in and kill all members of the gang. This is when the audience find out that Jamie was the leader of the gang, and is a woman. She kills every one but hesitates on the one she fell in love with. Once they are all dead it will end with Jamie/gang leader saying "Jamie is always watching".

I really like our story because it adds an interesting plot twist and it includes different genres. Such as: sci-fi, action, romance, mystery. It also relates to our stimulus. And we will be able to include slot of different story telling devices like: voice over,movement, physical theatre.

week review

This week we performed "curious incident of the dog in the night time". The performance went really well I think. At first I was really nervous, but after saying my first line I was fine. After act 1 in the interval I was extremely happy as I didn't stumble on my lines or forget anything which I usually do in rehearsals. I was even able to perform it better. In act 2 I was confident in my lines and made sure I projected my.voice and actions. I am extremely happy with my performance. If I was to change anything about my performance I would slow down a bit.
In the performance some people forgot their Que but we were able to move on without any awkward silences. I am extremely happy with our performance.

Research

I was looking for some more ideas on the characters in curious incident of the dog in the night time, so I typed it in on YouTube:http://m.youtube.com/?reload=2&rdm=1bmd58602#/results?q=curious%20incident%20of%20the%20dog%20in%20the%20nighttime&sm=1

On here there are loads of different performances on this which really helped me.

weeks review

This week we rehearsed the play as many times as we could. We also rehearsed the physical theatre pieces in it. I finally know exactly what I have to do and what movements I have to do at certain sections of the play. I still need to learn Judy's letter scenes and I am still finding it extremely hard. I have tried different methods to help me memorize these scenes and I now know that the easiest way for me to memorize it is to read it over and over until I know it. I have also found that getting others to test me on the lines help as well. Over the weekend I will learn the lines and hopefully by Monday I shouldn't need the price of paper on stage with me on stage.

I'm feeling anxious about performing on Tuesday, and my biggest worry is forgetting my lines or my que. Over the weekend I will continue to practise the play and go over the script, in hopes that everything will go to plan.

Weeks review

This week we focused on the physical theatre side of the play. We were split into groups and told to devise a piece of physical theatre that goes with the music we will use for the opening scene. My group decided that we would form a series of shapes around Christopher to represent his content thought about maths and numbers and shapes. Each group then shared their ideas and we added all of our ideas into one final piece.
We worked on the scene where we each take turns to lift Christopher in groups. At first we all struggled to say the lines and focus on lifts and walk at the same time, but after practicing for a while we can see it started to get easier. We practised in the hall mainly so we could work out how much space we need to use.

Weeks review

This week we focused on developing this script. We did some parts off script, testing our memory and what how many lines we have learnt. This week I focused on analysing my script and writing in parts we had devised, this is because we are also marked on the script and I believe it will help me to remember when we have included physical theatre. We also went into the hall for one lesson and practised scene two in there. I was able to get a feel for how our performance would be on the night. I realised how much space we have and how I need to make sure I fill the space. Being in a different environment helped me to focus more, I felt more involved in my roles.

What Judy would look like to me

I think Judy would slightly worn and tired and mainly stressed. When you read the script you often get the image of a middle-aged woman who is pretty but not outstanding. She is an average looking woman, she keeps herself in good condition but you can tell she is stressed and over worked. This is what I would picture Judy to look Like.

Week review

This week we focused on developing scene 1. We were told to learn the first few pages of our script. I found this easy as I don't have slot of lines on the first few pages. We focused on using physical theatre in the play to make some scenes more interesting. I am finding it hard to learn the lines for Judy when she is reading the letter she wrote for Christopher. The letters are about 2 pages long and I seem to always miss parts about when I rehearse them without the script. I was told that I am able to have the script in front of me when performing the letter scenes but I don't want to be dependent on the script. We were able to finish scene 1 this week, but of course we need to keep on rehearsing it.

Judys thoughts on Christopher

I will always be here for Christopher. He is my son after all. I know I made mistakes in the past, but finally I can see me and him building that bond again. Christopher often has his funny moments when I see him turn into a different person, but as I mother I know I need to push through those moments. He's a lot more intelligent than people let out. Autistic people are a lot more intelligent. But only in certain things. Christopher is amazing at maths. I'm almost certain he is best in class. You see, when an autistic child likes a subject they will focus all their time on that one thing, for Christopher it happens to be maths. I'm not too sure if I quite understand it yet, but I will, in time. From now onwards I will always be Herr for my son, make no mistake about that.

Finishing the script

This week we were able to finish both scripts. We now have a rough outline of the entire play. What we need to do is learn our lines and then go into detail about the acting. So far I am feeling confident about the play. I feel like I can certainly relate to my character Judy in a way. And I can feel myself slipping into character more. Certain scenes I am more confident in than others, but the more we practise the better we will get.

Rough script reading

This week we focused on creating a rough image for the play. We read through the script and started creating small scenes of physically theatre. For example we had to split into groups and create a scene where we Judy, Roger and Christopher enter the house. We used people for doors and draws. We decided that using props would create slot of unnecessary hassal. Physical theatre was the easiest and most creative and effective way. I like the fact we were able to use our body's in different ways.

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In This Night-time

In today's lesson we started on the play "The Curious Incident Of the dog in the night Time". We started with what would be the start of the play. We walked around the room repeating mathematical terms out loud, this represented Christopher's (the main character in the play) busy mind. After a short while we would begin to walk towards each other and then rebound off them whilst doing a large pushing movement of the hand. We would continue to do this 5 times with different people. Once we had done this 5 times we would then walk towards someone and just before we touched them we would turn the opposite way whilst crouching and tucking our heads in our hands. Again we would do this 5 times, all the while we would constantly chant our mathematical equation. Once we had done all of this we would then crouch in a ball on the floor with Christopher in front of us. Once Christopher stood we all sat up. We were told to type our phone number on a giant invisible keypad in front of us. So group by group we would do this. When reflecting back on the opening scene we created, I can see how all of this is a reflection of Christopher's mind. The constant chanting of words other people say around him that he doesn't quite understand. Never touching people and the fear of being touched. The frustration that literally brings him to his knees. And then his way to calm himself down, repeating numbers over and over in his head. I did some research into Christopher's condition, to get a better understanding of how his brain works. I found a website that explain's autism in a video