6|11|13 - Open The Door - Opening & Final Rehearsals

The last thing we needed to do was set the first piece of physical theatre that would create a massive impact for the start of the performance. We want to show the traveling aspect which can allude to the audience that they are being taken out of this country. We also projected news images that set the correct tone for the piece. It's also nice to use more
technological aspects of media as it gives a more professional feel to the performance.

The door sequence consisted of Me, Emily, Alex and Matt. The boys did most of the movement and lifting of the door whilst me and Emily created ourselves to be the people that manipulated the scene around us. Whenever we exited off stage, we would then bring on a part of the set the next time we entered. Gradually building up the scene made it more interesting for the audience to watch as well as getting a sense of character from the opening. Once we had created this, we rehearsed it to get it up to speed then moved on to the final rehearsals.

We went through each scene and decided on the scipt and fixed any incorrect tones or problems.

We manage to get the first scene with the Photographer walking in with the trousers down right straight away as we had the script set already and the humour was relaxed and easily achievable. 

My first bit of interaction's tone needed to be changed. I wasn't showing a mature enough response to realising the audience. I was holding a mug and originally I would spit the water out quite dramitcally, but we decided a slower release of water from the mouth back into the mug would create just as much humour. I am also going to expand on the 'partner' implication and make the sexual gesture bigger and slower in order to create more humour. I need to think of the tone of my voice when talking and remember to keep the language more mature and remove hedges and fillers such as 'erm' and 'um' except when I am doing so to create a more informal and comfortable feeling between myself and the audience.

When I'm going through the formal speech of the article I make my voice a lot clearer as if i am dictating everything in a clear reporter style. When beginning to read the story, Mr Chipp started to show me the images of the mutilated children, this made me do a word replacement list for when I am describing the child as I can then make the audience feel more uncomfortable and start to imagine what I have been witnessing whilst working on this story. It also creates a specific bond with the Journalist and the audience as I am the only person on stage and therefore the focus is on me and they have to listen to me. I decided that I wanted to continue holding the piece of paper, because I think you can tell a lot of the emotion from when i'm holding. When it becomes more involved with the story I look at the paper more in order to show the audience it was not a pleasant scene to watch and I can't look at them and admit that I did nothing but watch. I can also grab the paper and grasping them to show discomfort at the event I witnessed which adds another texture. I will also be using a dictaphone, as I get more and more lost in the reporting, I will not focus on it as much in order to give a natural performance of the Journalist.

When the bangs went when the Photographer reentered, we start laughing, this gives the first bit of relief from the serious tone, as well as being able to suggest to the audience that it's such a regular occurance that they are learning to laugh at what scares them. The only piece of improvement I was told was to make sure that I didn't sound so paniced and that I maintained an authorititive tone over my decisions.

The Army Guard's piece of interaction revolves around the way the audience will view him. We have given the him a reason to behave like a monster so therefore the audience can rethink their initial judgements of the character. The Army Guard also makes the audience question that they would do in this situation, so this case of empathy is a way
When with the child I will clean the blood of her with a blanket, this links to a moment in the story when I say the woman that the man takes his dead child too cleans her. This connection and reanactment of the world surrounding the Journalist and Photographer, shows the different connections the two reporters have made with their surroundings which utimately could represent the world and choosing to ignore and take action when the conflict is presented infront of us.

23|10|13 - Open The Door - Interaction

The last part of the devising process was to decide where and how we were going to interact with the audience. We discussed a place where we could each character could talk to the audience. The places we decided were

-Before the Journalist's speech - to set the reasoning of the piece
-The Army Guard - to give his side
- The Child's - Journalist to take control and get the audience to create the scene the child was last in
- Photographer leading the debate on whether they should take the child or leave it 

For my speech we decided that were going to talk about subjects that related to the teenage audience. These had to be current topics, such as Miley Cyrus's VMA performance and Cheryl Cole's arse tattoo. I would be asking them to raise their hands as this tells them from the beginning of the performance that they will need to stay alert in order to be involved.  We then juxtaposed this by presenting a news report that will not be well known to them, in this case, 'president assad's new regime'. This will make less hands raised and create a bigger point as the first two aren't really life changing stories. We will start the speech of by relating back to the Photographer and state how 'the world is always watching' so we can move on to the fact that you chose what you see and what you ignore. 

The Army Guard will be talking to the audience about how he is not a monster and that he has his own reasons and you can't judge the soldier for being scared of the child because of the affects the war had on his little sister. 

The second part of interaction that I participate in is when the child looks up, which is the first sign of movement throughout the piece. The Photographer asks what the child is looking at and I say she is remember. This will then be the most challenging part of interaction as we will be asking the auditions to create their own responses. We had to think of many different variations of what they could respond so we could lead them into a path in which they would be able to come up and create an image. The goal was to find out why she had blood on her hands, so as long as she was trying to stop someone from dying, I would have an idea of where I was going. I would bring the people up by the hand and give the character to them, I'd then ask them how they'd stand if they are that character in order to get them thinking and putting themselves in the characters position. 

The photographers lead the main debate, but it is also controlled by myself as the Journalist as well. We put the decision into the audiences hands because we want them to get to grips with the real life situation of having this problem and what they should do about it. We will split them into two groups, to side with either the Photographer or the Journalist. We will then in these groups create the points so we can have a debate and then decide on the ending so the audience can feel like they have molded the performance and decided the correct ending. 

23|10|13 - Directing - Developing Soundscape

As it was initially Kelly's week to plan something but was unable to attend, I thought I would continue with the idea of the sound scape but use the character relationships to expand on this. I split the cast into three groups and told them what they were to do. 

Emelia and Abbie - (Red & Blue) I created an idea that Abbie would play 'Blue', a friend of Red that was aware of the dangers if you stray from the path. I wanted them to show a friendship, growing up throughout the years. 

James and Med - (Wolf & Huntsman) - I wanted them to developing fighting as I wanted to see how it would look and if it worked well I would perhaps include a fight scene in the final performance. I wanted them to be agile, and I said they could use a wooden stick if necessary. 

Ruby (Granny) Romina, Jess, Megan (Depiction of Women) Sam & Richard (Depiction of Men)- I wanted them to create a travelling scene to Grandmothers house, this would perhaps be used as a transition, I wanted to see Ruby develop her old person persona whilst travelling through, and I wanted the depictions to become creative with movement and how they're reactions and actions support the piece as a whole. 

I let them mainly work independently so they could have fun, this is allowed me to see what they were comfortable doing and what interested them. I made adjustments where they were perhaps not focusing it 
towards an audience. For the performance aspect I made them perform all at the same time whilst doing their piece of the sound scape, as without everyone participating the sound would be too thin. I also think the larger group did well as they then began to think how they could intertwine part of the setting into the sound scape where they would hit the frames together. This is that performance: 

Mr Chipp said if I used three pieces of lighting to highlight the separate pieces of actions, it could actually be performed all at one. This then made me think, do the lighting but make it look less messy by having the actions on a loop so they perform a section of their piece and the next group would do there bit and so forth. However, I could've made it so the centre group did there continuously, but we had the two girls and the two boys do there alternating to show the stereotypical women and men. 

16|10|13 - Directing - Soundscape

For this session I wanted to focus on the mother and her relationship with her child and how she feels about her daughter growing up. As they all seemed really excited at the idea of sound scapes, I decided I would create a workshop that would allow them to develop the sounds. 

I asked Abbie to stand in the centre and create a simple sound that people could develop and add too. I then said that whenever they were ready they could enter the space, they had to walk in a circle around Abbie in the centre, and with their sound they had to move in a different way, whether they crawled or jumped, they decided. The people around the edge of the circle could either join a circle with the same sound and movement, or they could create another circle with a different noise and movement in the opposite direction. The sound had to add to the current sound in a way that it would develop the noise positively. They were allowed to filter in and out when they wanted and this allowed the overall sound to change gradually and their were moments where the sound was very thick and sounded very nice. 

After doing this for a while, I stopped them, I then replaced Abbie with Emelia, who is playing Red. I wanted to create a tone that was darker, so I told them to bare that in mind when entering the circle. Giving them a focus allowed them to elaborate more on sounds and feelings they get. Because the circle was so adaptable, if they didn't think the noise was on the right track, they had the power to change it and develop it with their own input. 

After this, I placed Mia, who is playing the mother, in the center of the space, and told the rest of the group that I wanted them to act it more. Instead of just sounds, people could talk, shout things at the mother. Whilst still in a circle they could also have physical contact with the people on outer layers of the circle and this could effect the noise they decide to make. There was a moment where I really liked the sound. I told everyone to remember what sound they were doing and that I was going to tell them to stop, and then start again doing the exact same noise. This helped them remember their sound so they could replicate it when necessary. 

The improvising aspect of this workshop was refreshing and it was great to see everyone be creative in the way they move and how they sounded. We made them vary the tones in their voices as well as the pitch, texture and tone of the overall sound. 

As they had their sound memorised, I made Mia sit in a chair, and they rest had to fit the familiar freeze frame around her. We then replicated the sound scape around her, building it up having people join in canon. I then wanted to demonstrate how we could alter the overall sound slightly, so I wanted them to transition into a new position create a new sound. I wanted Mia to show the character of the mother, so I made her hold a sheet to represent a baby. The sound scape tone juxtaposed with the mothers distressed tone, which symbolised the over reaction of the mothers inability to accept her daughter growing and the passive attitude she has towards this. This is the video clip of what we performed to the rest of the group: 

16|10|13 - Open The Door - Speeches

We were told to create or finish the speech for the character we had played the most. As I have always played the Journalist I had to finish the speech that we started before. I used the story that we decided from before so the final product was this: 

Since checks file July 2010 the regime has systematically and brutally repressed, silenced any and all opposition. The rebel…corrects self… Anti-government forces have used this brutality as a justification for their own ferocity and despite the furrowing of international brows the UN seems to be implicitly in agreement by the inactions and silence: the ends justify the means.

Or do they... *click* Me and my colleague went out with caution *pause* knowledge that the rebel forces are no longer holding back with their brutal methods. This meant we saw a number of killi *pause* tragic deaths.  These people... civilians, are trapped in a constant warzone. *pause*

Families, such as one witnessed yesterday, torn apart *pause* a horrific event. A man shovelling of rubble, after an attack by local rebels, found a child, his own child. The way his face dropped was heart wrenching as he collected the torn*pause* mutilated body. The face must’ve only been recognisable to him for the explosion had discarded her right side of face and face upper torso. Still bleeding he walked... stumbled on. He sang a song, and although inaudible to myself, he continued to sing, through the pain and tears, looking forward.

We followed this man as he reached the house of a woman, unsure of what to do her quick response led her to clear her table and attempt to resuscitate the child. The father stood back, shaking.. trembling. The likely hood that both these civilians knew the ultimate outcome of death was certain. She gave tried everything but in the end, they were unsuccessful.

This was just one of many gruesome and heart breaking stories witnessed by myself and my photographer. A scene we will never forget, but it surely won’t be the last we see. Anarchy reining supreme, cutting a bloody path through the civilians, holding back at no cost. And we are simply watching it happen. 

Mr Chipp let us rehearse for 15 minutes which allowed us to think of certain tones for different sections. We then performed them to each other which allowed us to give constructive criticism. This allowed us to develop our speeches, I was told to add more emotion when talking about the child, I also got told to create more corrections and that a tone should add to the reporter character by being more formal. He also wanted us to add the interactive aspect of our speeches that would get the audience to engage as we would talk directly to them. 

Mr Chipp then decided that this would be a good time to give out parts as the structure of the entire play had been set and we were now going through adding the interaction and we'd need to focus on this in our characters which would let us develop our characters personally. 

The Cast:

The Journalist: (both casts)

Myself - 

Photographer :
Matt Goodband - 

& Emily Giles - 

Army Guard:

Chris Doyle - 

& Alex Mellor - 

Sir did used my speech as a base and then improvised interaction so I could get an idea for the tone in which I should talk to the audience. This was really helpful to see how he wanted it to be done as I got an idea of the language that would be best to use. 

I now had time to look into my character as it was set. We researched Maria Colvin, an american journalist who died in the conflict in Syria. Aspects I wanted to make me character were 

-controlling. I wanted my character to be the person that takes the decisions and makes the final choices. 

-caring. I wanted her to look beyond just her job. She connects with stories and people on a more emotional level, but I don't want to make her to over emotional. 

-mature. I wanted her to have a sense of knowledge that appears throughout. 

I'm now going to add these aspects when performing to create a stronger performance with a more believable character. 

9|10|13 - Directing - Opening

I started the session by doing some team activities that would create trust in each other. The had to walk around the space, and whenever anyone liked they could shout 'I'm falling!' and the rest of the group would have to run over catch them and lay them on the ground. This activity was fun and it allowed them to bond with the others members of the group letting them trust each other. It took a while for them all to feel comfortable to start falling as soon as they said it, but once they managed it they had a lot of fun.

Because this went well, me and Kelly wanted to see how they would cope with a challenge. We wanted to try the alternative 'I'm flying!' where the person would be picked up and held as high as possible in a flat position. We understood more if people didn't want to this option, so we made it optional, Ruby was very enthusiastic and allowed us to demonstrate the position, which we made sure was clear to everyone what needed to be supported and the correct way to place her down. 

After this we allowed them to walk around the space, and any one was allowed to shout either option, and the rest of the group would have to carry out which one was mentioned. This allowed them to become focused for the session as they had to listen out to one another and then to carry out the process of falling or flying safely. 

We then decided to work on the freeze frames that we had created at the very end of the last session. We did some more discussion on how we felt about the script, Me and Kelly wanted to know what they thought of the script in order to give them the most enjoyable time in the creative process. We told them some of our idea's for soundscapes and shadow theatre and they were all enthusiastic, which gave us a confident go ahead to trial them out. 

The first freeze-frame we made sure everyone knew why they were stood where they were and why they were stood there, I made them say out in character the answers to both of these. It allowed them to explore their characters and let me and Kelly know where people needed expansion on the purpose of their character. We then created a movement piece where people could only move if they were pushed or pulled in a creative way to another position on the other side of the stage in order to create the freeze frame of the final position. This was just a simple way to get the cast focused on their character and character relationships and exploring creative ways of using each other to motivate there movements. 

9|10|13 - Open The Door - The Child

As the child is now the issue, we were told the purpose of this scene was to debate leaving the child or taking the child with us. Having this as the stimulus for the scene we created a large brainstorm where we debated why we should leave or keep the child and the argument that would be specific to that. This was helpful to create a more structured argument scene as we would be able to hit the correct points instead of going off track. This felt like an important part of the devising process so we could be as concise and just elaborate on the points we felt put it across the best. 

I worked with Chris for this section, I played the Journalist and he played the Photographer. We created a piece which followed the argument structure making sure the Journalist's best interest was the child and the Photographers was the story. Here's what we managed to create: 

After running the piece, we were told we had the correct tone, especially when I try and avoid the discussion of her dangerous side by asking for water and blankets. It was decided that I would also not leave the child when talking to Chris, which I agree with as we want to show her connection. He also reminded us of the pictures he told us to research of children caught in the warfare. This made it easier to use stanislavski's 'what if' and imagine this child to resemble one of these pictures in order to get a correct response. As a female I would also attempt to help this child as part of a motherly instinct. 

This scene is important as it's sets up the debate that the whole piece is trying to put across: if a child covered in blood turned up at your doorstep, would you let it in?