DEVISING THE PERFORMANCE
The following are selected and edited notes from my working notebook for our own devised TIE project, entitled “I’ll Never Hit Her Again”:
8th October 1998
We have been given two themes to look at::
1. Individual confidence
2. Peer pressure
Our first task, as a group, was to brain storm these themes and the following ideas were then put forward:
· Alter ego. Good and Bad sides. Conscience · Changing peer pressure · Smoking · Linking the scenes together with an unusual format · No through characters/storyline · Music/dance · Murder mystery – the audience as detectives · Own opinions – their view or everyones? · Extreme ending – moral values · Who’s right and who’s wrong? · Class issues · Football · Street gangs · Youth violence · Gender differences in violence · Low self esteem – children joining gangs · Bullying – suicide · Diary – secrecy – vicious circle · Joining the gang who bullied you · The bully – lack of self-
There is a very wide area of things to look at and choosing one that we all agree on isn’t that easy. In the end, we have decided to look at bullying (this being a subject so often tackled by schools). I feel that this subject has been looked at too many times and I’m not really that enthusiastic about it. However, the more I think about it, the more I want to try something new with the topic. (New ways of approaching it, presenting it, new styles of performance, and so on).
Using the ‘murder mystery’ style, we want to get the audience to ask themselves who was responsible for the outcome at the end of the performance, and us not telling them a direct answer, getting them to think for themselves. Over the weeks we shall be referring back to this list for ideas and styles.
15th October
Our next step is to get the project up and running. Our tutor for the project suggested that we should look at possible roles for the project:
1 Co-
3 Performers/storytellers;
4 Director – outside eye;
5 Researchers;
6 Educational input;
7 Stage management;
8 Workshop facilitators;
9 Over all designer.
By the end of the rehearsal it was agreed that we would all be a part of the production process in every way possible, which would mean that everyone gets a go at directing, designing, researching and so on.
We then moved on to brainstorm more ideas (as this worked well last time), asking ourselves what forms of bullying are there? Our list included: back stabbing, rumours, verbal, prejudice, religious, pressure, mental/psychological, physical and emotional.
Where is bullying taking place? – prisons, in the home, school, work, army, on the streets, communities, organisations, friendships, road rage and public transport.
Who are the bullies? – groups, teachers, power crazed people, friends, religious bigots, racists, attention seekers and those insecure (who can also be the victim).
But when it comes down to it, bullying can be caused by anyone, at any time, anywhere.
So now we look at the possible outcomes for the bully and the victim.
The Bully
· shown vulnerable · rehabilitation · exclusion · death · becoming a victim · remorse or not · realises damage · realises bullying · punishment
Victim
· conquering · realising worth · death · seeking help · compulsive disorders · running away · depression · despair · attempting suicide · becoming a bully · self harm
As yet we have no real ideas for the final production, but I feel that today we have moved on quite well. Instead of rushing straight into it, our tutor has helped us to look the task in a much wider perspective. There’s a lot more to bullying than I originally thought.
22nd October
So far we haven’t really looked at what we are going to do for the production in terms of the final performance, so today we played around with a few improvisations, unrelated to bullying. In the last half-
Scene 1: Present day. A father is sat in a chair. On either side of him are the good and bad parts of his conscience. They speak aloud and the audience is told that he has guilt because he’s hit someone, but they don’t know who.
Scene 2: The past. The father, his wife and daughter are having their photograph taken and they speak out their thoughts. ‘This baby will make a difference,’ says the mother, rubbing her belly to indicate that she is pregnant. ‘Maybe this baby will make a difference,’ says the father. ‘I hope this baby makes a difference and makes daddy love mummy again,’ says their young daughter.
Scene 3: The mother and daughter are cooking in the kitchen and the father walks in. The mood changes and after an argument he almost hits his wife, but thinks twice when he realises that his daughter is watching. The whole scene is in slow motion.
Scene 4: Present day. The father walks in to see their eldest daughter hitting her new, younger sister. ‘But you do it to mum,’ is her honest excuse. The father becomes angry and slaps her.
Scene 5: As Scene 1. The whole scene is repeated and we now know who he hit.
We are to meet in two weeks to show our ‘polished’ versions of the scenes to each other.
5th November
We had a quick rehearsal of our scenes and presented them to the rest of the group. From these we drew up the following ideas/themes:
· Family tensions/break-
It was suggested that we could show all three of our ‘mini’ performances to the class on the day. Either they watch one followed by a 10-
Our other idea was to link all three performances together as though watching a soap opera, which might cause the audience to lose their concentration and get lost in the three plots. This would then be followed by a 30-
We brainstormed the scenes and came up with the following:
· Scene 1: Present day. The father and his conscience, with good and bad imagery.
· Scene 2: The past. A freeze frame of the father, mother and daughter talking about the baby. Maybe have outsiders commenting on the baby too, eg. Neighbours, friends, the public, saying things like; ‘oh dear, not another child,’ or ‘no doubt the next kid will have to see his bad side,’ and ‘could this child save their relationship,’ etc.
· Scene 3. The mother and daughter are in the kitchen cooking. (Stylised?) The father comes back from having a bad day and lashes out at his wife, but doesn’t hit her.
· Scene 4: The present day. The baby has now been born and is about 6 years old. The eldest sister is beating her up because she feels that this is the right thing to do when you love someone, (copying her father’s actions). He walks in and hits the eldest daughter telling her not to do that again.
· Scene 5: As Scene 1. There will be an extra bit at the end of the scene.
· (Additional: music and singing to be used).
This following Tuesday, several of us are to visit the school and meet the class. Also, we are to start rehearsing at 10am on Thursday.
10th November
This afternoon we paid a visit to the class at the local High School in which we are to perform in 3 weeks time. There are a lot of them and there was concern of keeping them under control. We will have to split them up for the workshop. We also looked at the space, which is going to cause no problem for our performance.
From the impression of the others that visited the school with me, I do believe that they aren’t keen on the Year 9 group. I tried to tell them not to worry. As part of this module we had to visit a school and experience the class room environment over the summer break. I didn’t, but I have had experience before. For 18 months I worked with Year 1 and 2 pupils once a week in Music while I was studying for my A Levels. At the same time I helped to teach 8-
I’ve yet to work with Year 9s and so this project will provide that experience. I am looking forward to working with them in three weeks time.
12th November
We reported back to the group about our school visit on Tuesday. We all agree that it is a very good idea to split them up during the workshop. Our tutor brought in some drums for us to use and we now have a percussionist for the performance. The mother and daughter have been cast, with me as the father.
Scene 1 is now a prologue and we put that together. The performance will start with a drumbeat, during which the audience should become silent. (For a full description of all the scenes, see Appendix 1). When we are not performing, we are to remain on the stage in two lines, in a neutral position. (Hands behind our backs, not moving).
We also worked on three scenes in which we see all members of the family in their everyday situations:
1. Ann, the mother, with friends in a café.
2. Becky, the daughter, at school.
3. Robert, the father, at work.
This is a far as we got and are going to carry on next week, this time meeting up at 1pm.
19th November
We ran through what we had already done from last week and moved onto Scene 2, in which Robert almost hits Ann. We tried several ways in which we could show this and in the end Becky is to build a human pyramid (as though they’re her building blocks to keep her eyes off what is about to happen), whilst Robert gets worked up and lashes out at Ann – but doesn’t hit her. To practice this I said allowed what could be going through Robert’s mind at that time and now I run that through my head as I get worked up.
We looked at showing the arrival of the baby daughter, Jenny, in a stylised way and we are to look at all three scenes with the family to see how things have changed with them. (I’ll be meeting my group at 12pm next Thursday to rehearse this).
Our costumes are to be black jeans/trousers with a variety of plain coloured T-
26th November
We met up and rehearsed our new scene in the office and in it Robert is to be fired. The rest of the group seemed happy with this. We also finished the last two scenes off and I am very happy with the way it has turned out.
Our tutor has decided to run the workshop and I do believe that this is going to work quite well.. The main characters are going to be hot seated and below I have outlined some of the questions that I may be asked with possible answers from Robert’s point of view.
· How do you feel about the violence? – "What violence? I’m only slapping her. You totally misunderstand the situation."
· Was it a good idea to expect a new baby to solve the problem? Why? – "I never said it would. I said maybe, but not would. I wanted a boy anyway, I’m sick of being out numbered in this house."
· What upsets you the most? – "The way Ann doesn’t get things done when I’ve told her time and time again. I find that really annoying. And she never says anything. She just cries all the time."
· Who is to blame for what’s going wrong? – "Ann. And the people at the office."
· Why don’t you stand up for yourself more at work? -
I shall draw up more questions that may be asked with possible answers. But I shall have to wait until Tuesday to see what they really want to know.
Now that we have the final production, I’ve looked back over my notes and seen how we reached this stage. We have moved slightly away from our two main themes (peer pressure and individual confidence). The pressure in this case is in two forms – Robert’s boss and Robert pressuring Ann. Individual confidence falls upon Ann, with her lack of it, and we’re hoping that during the workshop they’ll discuss ways in which she could build it up.
From the start we wanted the piece to be stylised and have the scenes linked up in different ways. This we have achieved quite well and it helps to create an atmosphere, one that you could say is ‘unusual.’
When taking on a role it is often that the actor can ‘feel’ the character’s emotions. Usually these come from their memories or from their own feelings. Although I don’t know Robert’s character that well and I haven’t tried any major rehearsal techniques for him, but both 'Becky' and myself, during two of the run-
I have played characters that demand a lot of angry emotions before and have felt anger from within, which I controlled and used appropriately. This though, this feeling, came from an external source and not from within. It could be the energy of the play at that point, which goes to show how much of a powerful piece this is. The image of a father about to hit a daughter may ‘hit home’ in some of those watching. But it could be anyone up there – father and daughter, husband and wife, brother and sister and so on. We all know this image in some way or other and I strongly do believe that this is a very important piece of work that should be shown.
I hope that feeling is there with us on Tuesday and that everyone watching can feel and experience it too.
1st December -
2nd December
The performance went well. On arrival we ran through and sorted out any problems with the piece (these were just minor), and warmed-
During the hot seating the first question asked was ‘Why did you do it?’ by all four groups that we rotated around. Most of the questions were asked by girls, which I was expecting. Even some of the boys who appeared to show no effort at all when I first met them three weeks ago asked good questions.
I felt that the audience could relate to the performance as some of the pupils sat still, and quietly staring at me wanting to know ‘why?’ Their teacher later said that quite a few of them could well have similar situations at home.
I don’t know whether that ‘feeling’ was there yesterday or not. I was so busy concentrating on what I was doing and being aware of the audience that I didn’t think to notice anything. The room we performed in had a different atmosphere to that of our rehearsal space, and it was if we were still practicing when we did it for real.
Overall, it went down really well and I’m sure that they had a lot to think about went they went home that afternoon. The whole project has been a success and I do hope that we helped some of the individuals present yesterday.