21|5|14 - Physical Theatre - Final Performance

The video of the final performance: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eD0Kk8tV7g&feature=youtu.be 

from 20.25 

I feel like in the final performance we were able to convey every characters emotion showing a clear split when we changed characters whether it be through our costume or stance. We managed to do the lifts to a standard where they looked effortless allowing the piece to be enjoyable and appear to a high standard. I also felt we managed to convey the story well, reflect issues such as the desperation for work through the opening scene and George's need for Lennie to keep out of trouble so they can maintain work in one place. We managed to show sensationalism of women as well as how they were objectified and how it wasn't the women them selves but the effects on the men that seemed to cause the catastrophic events such as Curly's wife's death, and the need for Lennie and George to leave their original place for the implication of rape to the Girl. 

Here is my video assessment covering the process and development the piece: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnqquMqyo3E&feature=youtu.be

14|5|14 - Physical Theatre - Development

Development of George and Lennie

Mr Chipp questioned our ability to bring Lennie's dream out (living of the fat of the land where he could tend to the rabbits) which only had to be short. Therefore we created the reason why they kept having to move, showing different images of fast past violence after removing the makeshift map highlighting George's realisation into the fact this will happen no matter where they go. He then brings us out from behind him to show the distraction of the dream to Lennie, we using the idea of petting animals and being happy, he then wraps his arms around us causing us to be crushed. This is showing to George that he must kill Lennie in order to progress, ending the piece with a pull back and push to the floor. After this, we created an image where we move upwards to pull him down, to show clearly that George depended on Lennie as well. 

Music

We used sir's vast music libary to find music similar to those used in our original piece, sir had a great input. We then used people who weren't on stage to control the music whilst the people on stage could find points within the music that the pace of the movement could change.

For instance - in mine and Matt's scene at the beginning, we found that there were pauses which we could time to be the moment he touches the dress, and everything becomes quiet and you can just hear both of us deeply breathing, another point is the touch of the hands within the creates. The music also builds up at the beginning and when it becomes the loudest that was the point in which Matt killed the animal which he was petting in his hands. 


Run Through

We did a run through of the whole performance where we could sort out where we would exit in order for a smooth entrances. We then performed to a year 8 group in order to have the pressure of performance on us allowing us to receive feedback, the main thing we were told to work on was the character performance and making sure we conveyed the correct emotions. To resolve this, we discussed each scene to make sure we all had an agreement on the emotions that needed to be shown. From this we did another run before the final performance that allowed us to get a feel of how it should go.   

7|5|14 - Physical Theatre - Development - George and Lennie

Development for 'Curly's Wife'

Overall we felt that the main thing we needed to develop was making the lifts as slick as possible. If they are done with ease it reflects her ability to control and how easy it comes to her being the only woman on the ranch. We decided to add more moments of this by having her summon us onto the stage to lift her, we also added to Crookes' character by making him remove the crate from beneath Curly's wife. 

With discussion with Mr Chipp, the idea of creating a puppet from the dead body of her, we realised created an undesired comical effect. To remove this we decided to show more of Lennie's physical strength by having him pick her up, this meant we could also show a pinnacle moment where Curly's wife finally looses control. By the time that Lennie has her facing the back her struggling stops showing her death, the rest can continue as planned ready to move into the flop scene. 

George and Lennie

We wanted to start the scene on Lennie hiding after killing Curly's wife. From this we created two pieces of movement to show the people above setting off and the intimate relationships above. This then allowed Chris to enter, we decided rolling the crate showed aggression and anger as now George did not know Lennie's story. The scene showed the dependency they had on each other. The frustration of George and how they must always move place because of Lennie's curiosity and it's consequences. We wanted to show how George distracts Lennie by planning their next location in order to kill him. Chris was able to capture George's regret in having to do the action but making sure it seemed necessary. There were certain movements, such as the tower of crates and Chris removes the middle one but due to the way Matt is securely holding the top crate is appears to be hovering. This shows the aspect of dependency and hinting towards George's thoughts that he may have to depend on himself.