Evaluation

Evaluation

I believe that our performance went well we did have a lot of different ideas but eventually nearer to the performance we managed to cut some of the ideas as it didn't really express the questions we were trying to ask the audience.

One of our ideas that we developed for the good was the chair and circle idea, so originally, we were going to sit in a circle around Angel and when we were saying lines we would move position whether that's moving off the chair or changing positions we liked the concept of this, but we thought it would be hard for the audience to see what’s happening. So, we developed it into a line and just moving with the amount of power your line holds, we thought that this would be clearer because its facing the audience, while also breaking the fourth wall because even though our lines were to each other we would say it to the audience, so it looks like we are questioning the audience.

Another movement we developed was when Angel would come up to us with her 'help me' sign we would completely ignore and push her away, however we thought that it looked a bit messy when we done that, so we tried using different ways of physical theatre to move her, and eventually we found out that to grab her neck and twist her away was the most effective. On the other hand, during rehearsals we were not sure if it would work well because we were rehearsing in little space but when we performed it in the space I believe that it really worked well and displayed that we were ignoring the signs that Angel was being abused.

Personally, I feel like our group worked well even though there were times when we would have disagreements or people wouldn't work as hard as others, but in the end, we really came together and put on a really good performance which did what we exactly what we wanted it to do: question why we ignore abuse going on in families or try ignoring them?

Some of the research I did was to why family members cover abuse or ignore its going on, this really helped me understand what we trying to say as a group: why we do things like that? Even though we know that it’s not okay. With the research I did it allowed me to fully portray someone in that position (covering up abuse) and by doing this it strengthened my role and acting of every person who hides abuse. 

The Brechtian techniques we used were multiple people playing one character, so two people from our group were playing Steve I believe that by doing this it also allowed the audience not to get emotionally connected to the characters but instead focus on the issues and questions we are trying to raise. Another technique we used was breaking the forth wall, we done this mainly by talking to the audience without expecting a reply so everything we did and said was to the audience even though it was meant to be aimed at each other. One other technique we used was the use of a sign so Angels "help me" I though that this was effective because it showed that even though it was blatantly right under our noise we kept ignoring it, therefore making the audience question why are we neglecting her and the abuse, resulting in them asking themselves if they've ever ignored something going on.

Another group really enjoyed watching Luke's, I feel like the way they used the space and props around the was very effective for example in one part when Lucie was running up to the different characters while being Angel, Luke who was portraying Steve grabs her and throws her into the box and shuts the lid. I thought that this scene was very effective because the rest of the family were literally seeing it all happen, but they did nothing about it, which made me question why, and if I've ever ignored signs that someone is getting hurt whether that's physically or mentally. But I think the main criticism I have got is that I did get emotionally connected with Lucie's display of Angel but that might just be because when she was acting she had so much pain in her face that I automatically felt so sorry for her and upset.

In conclusion I do feel like my group was very effective in trying to get our point and questions across to the audience even if it did take a while to come up with effective ways of doing it. I also felt like none of us got connected to our characters we always thought of them as people who are in the same situation, so it was a representation of them. However, if were to do it again I think we should put some more focus onto the actual scene from the play and add a variety of movement into that scene instead of just moving in our chairs. Other than that, I think that everything went well.  

Final rehearsal and what we are doing

Final rehearsals and what we are doing:

so the first scene will be the 'happy family' picture:

It starts of with Angel and Brotha standing in the centre of the space facing the audience and the rest of us standing around them, we will then start walking towards them while verbally abusing and saying things like "you're worthless", "you cant do anything right"

After that we will get into the family portrait position, we will do this first facing the audience so they can see our faces, then we will create the same picture with our backs facing the audience. In the picture from the font we will all be smiling but from the back we will be showing physical abuse for example, i will be grabbing Brotha's T-shirt, and Steve will be grabbing Angels arm and twisting it. We chose to do this scene because it shows the audience that everything is not what it seems, they may look like a happy family but there are deeper issues going on within the family that they might not be able to see. 

In the last picture Angel will leave the family portrait and hold a sign saying "help me" once we see that the rest of group will disperse, Angel would then come up to us separately and try to show the sign but we would use physical theatre to blatantly ignore and push her way, then we would go pretend we saw someone we haven't seen before. This shows how the family refuse to accept what is going on even though its right under the noise they cant handle the fact that their family isn't in fact perfect its far from it. 

After that scene Angel would stand on a box while saying her monologue trying to explain to the audience that abuse within our family is actually going on and nothing is being done about it, while that scene is going on the rest of us would run up to Angel on the box and while she is reciting her monologue we would be shouting at the audience trying to cover up what she's telling them, we would say things like "she's lying", "she doesn't know what she's talking about, don't believe her." Angel would then shout "it happened to me" she reaches out to the audience as if she's asking for help, our arms then reach up to pull hers down and she falls off the box. 

That then leads onto our scene we would sit on a zig zag pattern with Angel at the front, while saying our line depending on how much power it holds we would either move forwards, backwards or sit facing a different direction, we also do this if someone else's line effects us. For example, one of my lines are "a sack'a shit the lot a'ya" for this line i would move forward as it holds a lot of power and effects the people around, When angel says "alone" i face away from her because its clear that she wants to be left alone. 

For the last scene we would get into a line facing the audience while Angel is standing up its sort of like a quiz show. Angel would asks us questions like "why aren't you happy?" and we would answer with blunt statements so avoiding the questions such as "Oh..you know....we're family....we're happy.....happy is a family....We're fine" Another question is "Why do you abuse your daughter" our answers would all be similar to the one before "Oh....you know....We're family....We're happy....everything's fine" The last question Angel asks is "why aren't yo empathetic" we don't answer the question so everything goes silent. 

We chose this last question and us being silent because we don't actually know the answer to it and it also leaves the audience wondering why them, themselves are empathetic and don't help when someone is in trouble especially when its within the family walls. 

15/12/17- Rehearsals

Rehearsals:

The most important thing is what we are asking the audience

We use gestus as it helps to show the inner thoughts and deepest wants of the characters therefore creating the piece more didactic.

Do not put anything into the performance that you don't understand or if you don't know what it means.

Don't get emotionally invested into your characters you can do this by saying the movement and action in rehearsals by adding gestus.

The ability to understand the fundamental stereotype of your character, for example you are not showing the character Angel you are showing a variety of people like Angel. 

Your staging options are very important to create clarity you don't have to be linear with your character choices for example, when Angel is speaking she is meant to be very strong but to break the fourth wall you can get the rest of the cast and audience to scream to show how she really feels on the inside, weak and drained.  

Ideas for final performance

Ideas for our performance:

Angel is in the space and the audience is standing all around hr and the other characters are all shouting abusive things at her such "you're worthless" and "you can't do anything right" And the audience wont be doing anything about it so they wont be helping Angel. While this is going  on Angel will be asking/shouting at the audience questions like "What is happy" "why aren't you empathetic" This helps us ask our question of why aren't people empathetic?

Another idea was that Angel is in the middle and all of us are sitting around her on chairs, and every time we would say a line depending on the importance and the effect it has on other people we would move/ do a movement. For example one of my lines were "a sack a'shit the lot a'ya" and for this line i would stand up to make the line more exaggerated and increase its performance. 

Having the audience seated all around us we would create a happy family picture from the front it looks very happy, however we would turn around 4 times and from the back it shows the bad things for example, we are physically harming Brotha and Angel. 

Research: why do families hide abuse

Why do families hide abuse:

Eight out of 10 abused under-18's tried to tell an adult, according to research based on interviews with 60 young adults. But adults acted in only 58 per cent of cases.

One reason may be because it takes a lot of courage and strength to stand up to other family members especially if they are male, because stereotypical a male is seen as the head of the house and to stand up to them you'll need to be brave, and someone family members haven't got that kind of strength.

Another reason people hide abuse or sweep it under the rug is because they don't want to tarnish their 'happy family' look, they want to be what society views as 'happy' so they don't want to believe that something so bad is happening in there family.

For families Denial is a big defense mechanism, they can be dependent on the abuser for example it could be the bread winner of the family they are as scared and frightened as the victim therefore can remain silent and not even see or hear the abuse in order to keep the needed relationship with the abuser. Its links to the saying 'hear no evil, see no evil'   

Torn | Interview with writer Nathaniel Martello-White

Nathaniel Martello-White for torn he wanted to take out all the unnecessary scenes, like all of the family getting into the house, he wanted to just focus on the family together. Also he felt like when you watch family dramas they only get together when there's a wedding or a funeral he wanted to change that and make it just a random Wednesday, to make it different from other family dramas. Furthermore when staging the set he wanted everything to be striped back not a lot of props the walls to be plain white, so all you focus on is the actors and their portrayal  

Nathaniel Martello-White -him, The Royal Court and Torn

Nathaniel Martello-White

Nathaniel Martello-White is a British actor and writer. Having appeared in several productions of the National Youth Theatre, he graduated from RADA in 2006 and since has performed in films, television shows and theatre. 

His film credits include Deadmeat (2007), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008), Red Tails, Hard Boiled Sweets and Life Just Is (all 2012). He has also appeared in the television programmes Doctors, Trial & Retribution, Party Animals, Mongrels, Law & Order: UK, Misfits, Death in Paradise, Silk and Horrible Histories.

His theatre credits include Edward II and Romeo and Juliet at the National Theatre, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Marat/Sade with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Joe Turner's Come and Gone at the Young Vic

Nathaniel Martello-White on the Royal Court and Torn:

"I dismantled the entire play so I could ask myself what it was and what it wasn’t. I was left with about 25 pages of material that was the play and about 75 that I discarded, then I built it back up around those 25 pages. I’m glad I did that in hindsight."

"The biggest influence on me has been Tarell Alvin McCraney. I performed in one of his plays, The Brothers Size. There were three actors and that’s all."

"We created an entire universe in what was essentially a chalk circle. It showed me that theatre at its purest doesn’t need loads of props and set thrown in.If your dialogue is good enough and your story is strong enough, all you need is actors, their bodies, their voices and their emotions. That’s the most compelling kind of theatre for me."

1/12/17

Whats torn about?

Destructive families and how families an destroy themselves, secrets withing families, neglect, the ignoring of abuse.

What statements does torn make?

• Families who are not honest and don't face up to the truth destroy themselves.
• pride trumps familial care 

Turned into questions: 

• Why do families destroy themselves?
• Why is pride such a strong force?
• Why is pride so destructive?
• Why is pride a priority over familial care?
• why are we emotionless?

The questions are devised to provoke the audience to question their own lives. This is where gestus comes in. 

Gestus equals the fundamental truth all humanity.

What is gestus? 

A stylised gesture that shows the attitude with in/movement that draws out understanding 

Why is our piece political?

Because it is saying that men abuse and use their power and status to crush families.

People who are abused that have stories are not believed even by their closest family members so they believe there's no point talking about it. 

It has aspects of class and ethnicity.

Where doe the male need to control and punish come from?

Men can be monstrous and women can be nurturing 

Our scenes questions?

Are you empathetic?
How does lack of communication effect you?
The most comfortable people should be the ones working the most to help people who are not as comfortable.
We are asking the audience: Why are you not making the world a better place?

24/11/12 -exercises

24/11/12-

The first thing we did in today's lesson was discuss the relationships between some of the characters one of the relationships were between Angel and her mother. Angels mother wants a traditional happy family life ignoring any bad things/issues going on however all Angel wants is for someone to believe her, comfort her and wants to feel protected, this relationship goes against the stereotypical one of a mother and daughter. 

One of the physical movements we did was we would fall into the arms however they would push our hands away, Angel would then fall into her mothers chest they would grab her head to comfort Angel but she would slide through the arms and fall onto the floor. When Angel falls the mothers hand are still in the same position when they were holding Angels head this shows that she is missing her and is longing for a closer relationship. And Angel slipping out of her mothers hands shows that the relationship they had is slowly going because her mother refuses to listen and believe her. 

Another relationship we did was Brotha and Couzin, they have very opposite personalities, for this exercise Brotha would go to random people and try to loop with them however Couzin would not let him and keeps pulling him away. This allowed us to explore their relationship all Brotha wanted was comfort and to feel safe but Couzin was not allowing that to happen. 

17/11/17- How to creatively rehearse

How to creatively Rehearse:

• Get the world right, so the actions, objectives and everything else linking to the character the lines will then follow.
• focus on the actions and objectives not the lines.
• Work out the dynamics of the scene, the speed, tempo and the atmosphere you are trying to create.
• Do not rely on your lines to move the scene forward. 
• You need to figure out the personalities an characteristics of all the characters. 
• There's no such thing as blocking.
• We need to use impulse when performing, the text rides on the action.
• Don't rush into the text, experiment with your character, try not to be perfect as you will get stuck on doing the same thing over and over again. 
• Remember the moments you like in rehearsals.
• External stimulus, make the space first. 

Torn -family tree

How does Torn fit with the ethos of the Royal Court

How does Torn fit the ethos of the Royal Court?

The Royal Court mainly perform new shows, they believe in the right to fail and try new ideas everything. They open their doors to the unheard voices and free thinkers that, through their writing, change our way of seeing. While also discussing controversial themes which are still relevant in today's society, therefore linking to Torn because this play does contain all the criteria's needed to be put on by the Royal Court. 

In addition to that Torn is a play that contains controversial issues that question society and what we see as the social norm therefore allowing it to be accepted withing the Royal Court. Some of the topics raised are hidden and feared by society so to perform this in large, well known Theatre such as, The Royal Court which is known for discussing issues with a similar nature is very effective. 

Furthermore it's helping a new and undiscovered writer with a passion and understanding of creating a world a better place and question the issues we face as a society. The writer of Torn is Nathaniel Martello-White who was an undiscovered writer. 

What effects Status in Torn

What effects status in Torn?

• Age 
• Secrets/knowledge - who knows what in the family? and what they hiding from everyone else? 
• family hierarchy (where you stand in the family/the importance you hold)
• Race 
• Experience -the family is more likely to believe someone older
• Gender -When it comes to family the women hold more power 
• Knowledge -The fear of gaining knowledge

What Political Theatre changed the world?

What Political Theatre changed the world?

One play that changed our society is 'Angels in America' it's a play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. The work won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.  

Angels in America is about: America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.

Angels in America is often treated like a documentary about AIDS and the NYC gay community in the '80s, and while that's true to an extent, it's also a statement about the promise and contradictions of the United States of America. At its heart of the play is the personal trouble caused by the failure of that political promise of equal rights—not just the freedom to pursue happiness, but the state's responsibility to protect that pursuit. 

This play changed the way society thought about AIDS and homosexuality 

Why are we studying Torn during political Theatre

Why are we studying Torn during political Theatre?

I believe that we are studying this play during political term because it questions society and how we are living, and this is one of main aims of political Theatre. While also discussing political issues underlining today's society such as abuse and race, therefore allowing a discussion to be held withing audience members and allowing them to have an opinion on the matter. 

Political Theatre is all about showing the different opinions and sides to the issues being raised, resulting in the audience having their own opinions without being influenced by biased discussions.

This is what the torn does: shows all aspects and views of the families issues and how every member feels about it, this can be very controversial but so is every political view and debate therefore resulting in a very real and intimate performance. 

Why is Torn written for an audience of 2016?

Why is torn written for an audience of 2016?

I believe that torn by Nathaniel Martello-White was written for an audience of 2016 because it discussed issues which are present in today's society, for example one issue is 'broken' family homes looking happy on the outside but having deeper issues within, this theme is still part of society which allows the audience members to relate it to their own families. I believe that this also shows society that everything is not what it seems, everyone is fighting their own battles even if we can't see it. Therefore going against societies beliefs in what a happy family is. 

In addition to that abuse within families being covered still plays a big part on today's society, no one really likes to talk about the issues going on within because they don't want to damage their families reputation (Happy families) they would rather pretend that it never happened so they don't have to face the truth. 

Torn -The questions, challenges and themes

Torn:

Torn was fist performed on Wednesday the 7th of September 2016 until Saturday 15th of October 2016, when i read Torn i personally didn't like it whatsoever, it was very hard for me to understand what was going on even if i re-read the scene more then once i just didn't understand. I also found it hard to keep track of the characters and who was related to who. Even in the end i still didn't have a clue on what was going on until we discussed it in class, but nearly everyone in my class found it difficult. However i do feel like the issues it tried to bring to the light were very big ones that people don't talk about, but for me i feel like it could of been done in a much clearer way for people to understand. 

Questions raised in Torn:

• Why is angel is being ignored?
• Why is family fake 
• why are some family members treated better the others?/Why is there an hierarchy?  
• What do they not want to talk about?
• Why are so many people determined not to talk and speak up about the issues but would rather push them under the rug?

What are the challenges in Torn?

• There are a lot of characters talking at the same time in the script so it becomes difficult to pay attention to both and know what they're talking about. 
• It's hard to know the relationships between all the characters/ who is related to who, however we can solve this issue by drawing a family tree to make things more clearer. 
• The way that Torn was written made it very difficult to understand what was going on throughout the scenes. 
• The name of the characters could have actually been names, only three of the had proper names,  however we discovered that the named characters had the closest relationship with the protagonist Angel, whereas the others were stereotypical family members e.g. Aunty, Couzin. 
• In one scene there was two different conversations going on at the same time but they were from two different periods in time which made it hard to understand, there has to be an establishment to see that they're two different conversation. -The play is a build up of conversations that don't happen. 
• It doesn't have linear narration (not chronological)
• It will be a challenge presenting the flashbacks. 
• The structure of how its written is hard to understand. 
• The scenes never have a beginning nor end. 
• All the family are always present and are often talking over each other causing a confusion of words. 
• The form is confusing at the expense of understanding, but that's okay if the actors understands the background and what they're trying to say to the audience. 

Themes:

• Family 
• Race 
• Ageism 
• Mistrust 
• Neglect 

10/11/17- What is the point of Political Theatre

What is the point of Political Theatre?

I think that the point of political theatre is that is raises questions about the environment we are living in and how it effects different people. This type of theatre also prompts the audience not to accept societies social norms, its about art that makes us question and stand up to the status quo. I believe that this is a very effective way to inform people of all ages about the issues in politics but it does it in a very entertaining way which draws us in more as an audience. 

Political Theatre should leave the audience feeling motivated to do something or create a change, but it should also leave them questioning themselves and the society they live in. This type of theatre is a way the actors can comment what they feel about the issue they are facing, while also confronting the government. Political theatre is a tool used by old and young actors, it gives actors,directors etc to talk about the issues they face and they cannot be stopped for it.