Change in Children's life after war

First World Problems

The lines that our group said in unison to show a connection between the rich and poor characters was: "I'm too tired, there is a lot of pressure at school/work, I have a lot of work/homework to do". We also said: "Ouch, I stubbed my toe".

With the first line we were trying to teach the audience that in the rich characters life they have a lot of pressure at school because the child is getting a lot of homework but in the poor characters life the character has a lot of hard work to do lifting bricks and there is a lot of pressure as they are building a new building. We were trying to show that the poor character is in a lot of pain as there is a lot of work to do but the rich character is tired as he doesn't have enough enough sleep and doesn't want to go to school. With the second line we wanted to show that in the rich characters life they might stub there toe into the bed and they make it a big deal as if they are in a lot of pain whereas in the poor characters life they stub their toe into the bricks which hurts a lot more. With these two lines we were trying to teach the audience that it might look like with small things like stubbing a toe into the bed or being to tired might look bad but in reality, it worse for the poor persons life.

With the first line, for the poor characters life we used body language to show that the person is very tired and is in a lot of pain as there is too much pressure but with the rich character we showed with our body language that the character is just tired and sleepy and doesn't want to go to school. We also used our voices in the poor characters life to be more low and quiet as they can't speak loud when in pain and we spoke louder with the rich character as they are just sleepy. In the second line we used body language showing the rich character exaggerating and pretending to be in a lot of pain by jumping around and being loud whereas in the poor characters life we showed that he was in pain but was not that loud and was sitting down trying to get rid of the pain.

These two lines and with our body language and voices, we could show that the rich character and poor characters life are very different and where the rich character might think that are in a lot of pain in the poor characters life there is real pain. We wanted to show that the rich character doesn't really go through any big problems but make a small thing very big but in the poor characters life there are big problems but don't show it.

Actor Training- Trust Blindfold exercise

This exercise build's on a lot of skills with the people performing as the person directing the other person on where to go involves teamwork and a lot of trust. This exercise helps build trust in people performing as they have to trust one another on where the are telling them to go. For example when the person directing taps the person walking on the right shoulder, the person walking has to have trust on the other person to turn right and that the other person is saying the correct thing. Trust is very important while performing as the people have to trust each other to make sure that everything in the performance will happen properly and that nothing would go wrong. This exercise also builds cooperation as the people have to work together to make sure that they don't bump into something or someone. This is another very important skill with being an actor as if they don't work well together then the performance will not be as good as on stage people need to say the lines on time together and if they are doing an action together they have to make sure it happens at the right time and this exercise builds on it. I think that this exercise is very good to train actors as it builds on the two most important skills while performing which is trust and cooperation. 

Chorus Work

I think that with this chorus performance work we could have improved a little because our group didn't have that much movement and maybe when someone was saying something we could make sure that we were all moving around in sync or doing something so we weren't just standing there. We could also make sure to say a few things at the same time together to have more of an effect and show the darkness of the scene. The good thing was that we all remembered our lines and we said it when were supposed to and we also added our own lines for the other people to say like hate more times. We also had Michael in the background walk around us like an echo repeating the main words to put more emphasis and also creating a darker atmosphere. I also like how in the end we split the sentence between each other so we all said one word and we said in the correct timing and the main word was fall so in the end we all decided to fall down.

Script Annotation

Script Annotation: 

School bell rings: (Whole class about to run out)

Form Tutor: (Calling out Loud to keep control) Everyone come back right now! Now just because the bell has gone, that does not mean you can.

Past Martin: (dismissive) Oh come on!

Form Tutor: A quick word. Now everyone. Please. Use your holiday time constructively. Stay safe; do not give this school a bad reputation or your parents nervous breakdowns! Remember the things we’ve been talking about in citizenship (Martin and Friend whispering) and particularly in Drug Awareness Week. Martin! (Loud Burp) 

Mark: We’re not stupid you know!

Past Martin: I learned a lot in those Biology lessons! I’ll be using that this holiday. (High Fives Mark)

Mathew: You

Natalie: Wish (Quiet Laugh between each other)

Form Tutor: And while you’re out there having fun, remember next term will be your last in this year (Martin screams Last Term). So now you should seriously begin to consider what type of employment or further education you will go on to. Don’t waste this holiday period- talk to your parents, look at your options (Matthew ignoring every word and kicking Natalie’s chair as well as making noises) and remember there is no reasons why you shouldn’t use some of your time to study! (Gasp from whole class) 

Past Martin: Did she just say STUDY! (Laughs)

Matthew: Study?! (Surprised)

Mark: But if you have to study on holiday then it’s not much of a holiday is it then?

Form Tutor: Is that right Mark? (Sarcastically) 

Past Martin: Well, I’ve got nothing new to learn, my head’s already full.

Natalie: Full of Crap! (Martin and Matthew start screaming and saying it’s ok)

Form Tutor: Quite Down! (Shouting) Education never ceases Martin Turner- and we all have more to learn than we may think.

Past Martin: (dismissive) Whatever…

Form Tutor: And perhaps you might like to get some practice in too, Martin. Too many late nights, mornings, burgers and chips and that place on the gymnastics team may just slip through your fingers.

Past Martin: (Puts legs on table) No Worries- I’m naturally fit, me. Eat what I like, drink what I like and it’s the same. Stay up as late as I want and wake up bright and early for the next morning. Always got the moves. (Confidently jumps onto table) I’m pretty fly for a white guy! (Class laughs)

Form Tutor: Whatever that means. Now go! (Students leaving)

Everyone Freezes and Narrative Martin enters

Narrative Martin: I still remember what she said, that day of all days: ‘ We all have more to learn than we may think’… (Turns to audience)… I hate it when teachers are right!

Street Sounds and Switch to Gang of Three entering.

• Vocal delivery (tone of voice, pauses, silence, moments of climax, volume, pitch)
• Entrances and exits 
• Gestures, actions or movements 
• Sound cues (sound effects, music)

Publicising the Play

Task 4- Reflection

What were the successes of this unit?

With this unit and performance in particular, there were quite a few successes and the first one being the script as a whole. The good thing was that from the beginning, our group knew what we wanted to do and we knew exactly what scenes we wanted to show the audience. From the start, we always wanted to do the classroom, the club, the fun fair and the hospital scenes and this helped us out a lot as we didn’t spend so much time deciding what we were going to show. It was also good because we saw those exact scenes in the book and we started practicing them immediately. Another good thing was that we also knew the order it was going to be done in. Once we had the scenes, we were then able to choose which lines we were going to say and which one’s we were going to leave out because it wasn’t valid. With a lot of practice and rehearsals we were also able to memorise all our lines from the script and this meant that on stage we didn’t forget anything. This also helped us because we were all really confident and we were projecting our voices and showing all expressions at the correct time which made the performance as a whole very good. Another good thing was our Narration that we had with Aisha where she would go on and talk about what was happening and what was about to happen to inform the audience if they didn’t know and also build some suspense as they would want to know what happens next. I do believe that we could have done many things differently but for our first performance, we were able to clearly show the story and also keep the audience engaged at all times.

What would you do differently?

There are so many things that we would do differently for our performance. We would change almost everything from sounds to how the stage looked and also our costumes. We would also change some of the lines in our scenes and maybe also the characters. The first biggest thing we would try and improve would be the lighting changes between the scenes which could have been timed better as we would be in the freeze frame for around 10 seconds before it was actually a blackout. Then we would also improve our costumes as between the scenes we couldn’t see where our clothes were so we couldn’t find what we were supposed to wear and this meant we wore the same clothes throughout the entire performance which looked like everything happened in the same day. Then we would also have more sounds in the background like night sounds, also a rollercoaster sound that we didn’t have to make ourselves, better club music as well. We would have worked on our lines for our performance as well because at some points we didn’t say everything that we were supposed to and it was quite important. Maybe to improve the performance, during the scenes we could have had Street Voices moving around the city and talking about what Martin’s life was like and what would happen. Also at the club scene, we could have had the other characters that were doing nothing become waiters and a DJ and then also be street voices talking about Martin and how everything would change. For my part at the end where I run out of the Youth Club, there could have been a Narrative Martin that would go around me and then we would say the lines one by one. That last bit needed a lot of work and it could have been improved massively but since we were short on time, it wasn’t the best. We could have also had a spotlight shine on me when I said that to have all the focus directed towards me. The use of space on the stage could have also been better like when we went to Natalie’s house, The Youth Club and the Fair. In Natalie’s house scene, we just walked straight and it didn’t look like we were going to somebody’s house. Even at the Youth Club where we had to get the candle we barely had any space and we could have changed that around to have the correct amount for each area. At the fair where the Popcorn stand was, it was too close to the Picture booth and it didn’t look like a normal theme park because everything was right next to each other. Otherwise, we did pretty well, but there is always room for improvement. 

Top 3 tips for next year’s performance?

• The first and biggest tip that I would give for next year’s performance would be to have more rehearsal time. I would say that the more rehearsal’s you get after school and in school the better so you would be able to perfect your scenes. For our group we spent all the lessons only perfecting our first two scenes and we had the last week to do our other 3 scenes which were not as good as the first two so if we managed our time better then we would be able to have a really good performance.
• The next tip would be to make sure that all the lines that you have are learnt well so that it isn’t a problem later on and it also comes into the rehearsal. Along with the lines would be maybe like making notes about the thinks and scenes that you thought about and write them down so that you don’t forget it and it will help your final performance. 
• Make sure that the character that you are playing is good for you and isn’t overambitious so you can play it properly. Make sure that it is a character that has a similar personality to you and try to get into his shoes by maybe acting like him throughout the day. After you are confident with your character, also make sure that you’re confident to act in front of the audience and don’t be afraid about messing up or getting embarrassed because it would ruin the whole performance. Breath, Don’t panic and it will turn out perfect!

How did your performance vision change?

From the start our performance vision was one thing and it didn’t really change until the end. From the start we knew that we wanted to show what Martin was like before he had the accident and then how his life completely changed after that night. We wanted to show that along with his friends to show what kind of a person he was and how his friends saw him until the accident took place and everyone saw him differently. We always wanted to show the classroom scene as we wanted to display that even with teachers Martin was the same person and was a really confident and cocky person. We also wanted to show the club scene as we wanted the audience to see that Martin was the one who wanted to always have fun and didn’t mind things like dancing. The hospital scene was necessary as we wanted to show what exactly happened to Martin and how he was a victim of burns. The scene of the fair, Natalie’s house, Youth club was after we knew what we wanted to do. We wanted to do the fair scene as we wanted to show the audience how much fun the friends had together when they went outside. Also where they go to Natalie’s house as Martin was the only one who had a girlfriend and this showed that he was a good person overall. The Unity club was important as we wanted to show that after the accident people saw him differently and this was good because the audience could see what it was like for people like Martin and how he was recovering from such a horrible accident that took place and changed his life.

What skills did you develop through this process that you can apply in other subject areas?

There were many skills that I developed through this process that I can apply in other subject areas and the first one being my communication skills. As I had to communicate to people in the audience with my voice, my facial expressions and also different voices that matched my character. I also developed my cooperation skills as throughout this unit we had to work in a group to create our final performance and this made me better at working with my peers. It helped me get better as we had to create and build the entire performance together and also coming up with what characters suited which person. Another skill would be problem solving and decision making which is very important in other subjects. We had to solve the issues that we had with our performance like the costume and what character would say what. We also had to think more about what we wanted to show the audience and what scenes we would pick that could tell the story well. As we had to rehearse our performances, it also develops the skill of determination and effort to always make sure to do what we had to do and make it the best possible in the end. It is also important for my own well-being as with the different characters that we portray, we can act like them without any feeling of fear or even being judged and we can perform without being shy in front of the audience with showing all our emotions.