drama gcse working record

drama gcse working record

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The Only Way Is Up: Introduction

Our devised piece was based on the given title “The Only Way Is Up”. The main theme of our story is imprisonment, and how the greed of some of the most powerful and the fear of everyone as a whole could quickly change people’s perceptions on life.

The story starts with two “prisoners” in an unmentioned building, assumed to be a prison. A security guard puts them both into the same cell, and  they quickly discover that they both lead very different lives prior to being locked up. They both scheme on how to get out of the cell with the help of the security guard, who overhears them discussing their plans and wants to help them escape. She feels their pain, as she herself is a past prisoner who’s serving community time by helping the government and guarding the prisons. Over time, Blake, the rich prisoner, finds that the escape might actually be possible with the help of Alex, the guard, but the poor prisoner, Asha starts to doubt a peaceful life outside the walls.

We did research a few different attempted prison breaks, including a guy who escaped prison through the food slot of the cell wall. We will try to include these in conversations between the three characters when they are scheming on ways to get out. However, I would like to conduct more research on attempted and successful prison breaks and escapes as I feel that I could add them into the development of the play to make it more realistic.

The three objectives that I would like to achieve are: 1. Staying in character: Even as we’re simply improvising now, I have a really hard time sticking to the pre-defined characteristics of my character. Blakes isn’t supposed to have an optimistic outlook on her time in the prison until further on down the road, when the guard helps her and Asha. However, in rehearsals I keep acting overly optimistic. I had a similar problem in trying to act out Cool for A Little Box of Oblivion. I will need to tone it down a Lot in order to go with what I had set for my character.

2. Learning how music and lighting could affect the setting and tone of the piece: In the previous recorded piece, we didn’t really include that much detail into our music or lighting. Experimenting different lights with the coloured gels and seeing how the music fits and compliments the tone of the scenes would be really interesting to learn, and I could further apply this knowledge into other scenes that we do in the future.

3. Actually figure out a proper ending: At this point of time, my team have been trying to develop the characters as much as we can, especially Alex. Now that we have spent a lot of time discussing the backstories of the characters, I really would like to achieve a great ending. To me, a great ending to this piece is something that sounds and completely looks like and ending but could also keep the audience thinking a bit after watching the piece about what happens next. So far, I’ve thought about having Asha realise that it had all happened in her head, and that there is no way for her to get out of the prison. However, we haven’t fully settled on this idea so we’ve got to brainstorm about this in our own time. 

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A Little Box of Oblivion: Semiotics

The box: In this particular play, the box represented oblivion, as introduced in the title of the play. It hints to the endless possibilities of its contents but also how the global population feels as if we reside in emptiness. This would explain why all characters in this play are completely terrified of the box, as its contents could be their past, present and future (eventually, we find out that it’s just a turtle). It represented life and uncertainty. This could affect the audience, by showing that something as simple as a box could mean so much and could hold so many important keys in your life.

The turtle: The turtle resides in the box, and is left alone until the end of Cool’s speech, where she takes it and shakes it furiously over her head. To me, the poor shaken turtle in that box represents mankind, and how shaken up and confused society is. Something as uncomplicated as miscommunication, mistrust and jumping to conclusions could easily affect you and stir you up completely.

The costume: As mentioned before, the costumes really tied in with the morals of this story. Cool’s (both Mira’s and mine) costume consisted of business/smart attire. Mira’s heels showed that she was higher than the other characters, both in status and physically. My jacket was a representation of my patience; the angrier I got, the more buttons I took off. By the end of my speech, my jacket was starting to come off from the stomping and the shaking of the box. Neuro’s (both Maia’s and Charlotte’s) costumes consisted of mostly baggy and loose clothes, were quite unflattering. They really showed how feeble and confused the character of Neuro was supposed to be. Both of them constantly wrapped their cardigans around their torso, which could symbolise society constantly covering up their thoughts because they think that their thoughts don’t matter in the large pool of people. Then again, I could be reading way too much into this. Dick’s costume consisted of pop cultural references (displayed on clothes) and a bright backpack. The backpack showed her youth and innocence and made her stand out in the crowd. Doom’s costume consisted of a long lab coat and a well-equipped knapsack. The contents of the knapsack could symbolise how no matter where you were going, you must always be well-prepared. If thinking about enormous disasters such as September 11, the residents of New York City and Washington D.C did not expect such a catastrophe. The pamphlets and even Doom’s personality could link with Neuro stocking up for an apocalypse, and how you must always be prepared because you’ll never know what could come next.

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A Little Box of Oblivion: Self Evaluation

My classmates and I performed A Little Box of Oblivion by Stephen Bean for our coursework in Drama GCSE. It is a play of the absurd, and the genre was created after World War 2 left people depressed and/or confused and unsure of what they’re doing in life. The main moral is that we should trust people (all characters except Woman jump to conclusions concerning the contents of the box). The ridiculous world issues caused by man today constantly shape our thoughts and perceptions on reality as being negative. The title of the play — oblivion, hints to the endless possibilities of the box but also how we feel as if we live and breathe in nothingness.

I think that I showed my part of the play effectively sticking with that moral. As I said below, my character had to lack motivation and curiosity, which made my character like other common realistic characters. I would keep referring back to my newspaper, roll my eyes and look at the others in disbelief as they voiced their theories on the contents of the box. As a group, I think that we did very well on putting the moral forward, truly exaggerating our characters if needed (apart from me, I did it a bit too much) or also stressing and hopeless, which comes back to the initial feeling of the genre of the play again.

I suggested a business attire for the character of Cool, as I felt this might show the status barriers between her and the other characters. It could also show her seriousness and business-like body language, as well as her ability to think everything the others say ridiculous simply because it wasn’t logical. I also suggested that the actor playing the character of Neuro in my part of the play should wear baggy clothes in order to accentuate her frail and feeble physicality.

Our performance had many positives: our costumes fit with the characteristics of our characters, we made sure to speak at different heights emphasise our points, if necessary, we made sure that our props fit with the specifications of the script(that is, to a minimal), and almost all of the time our voices were clearly projected to the camera. Working with everyone was a breeze, as everyone pulled their own weight and were really focused on achieving the best they could achieve.

I really liked how Mira’s boots gave her a bit of a strut, and it showed that she was higher in status and physically than the rest of the characters. I like Charlotte’s telephone speech, as she really made it believable and stretched out the lines she felt necessary, making it seem like an actual call, not just something to be done with in a play. I love Kaoru’s part where she got up the bench, her gigantic arm gestures really gave her speech a lot of meaning and helped her pace her lines as well. Maia’s costume (her huge cardigan, her dad’s shorts and frilly socks) was absolutely hilarious, but really helped her get into the character, making her look strange and confused. As for Camille, her bright backpack really made her stand out and look a lot younger. Also she did literally everything right, they all did (gO 10C DRAMA)

As for me, I felt that I projected my lines well for both the louder lines and the softer lines (made possible by as clear enunciation as I could do), I gave good body language while sitting down at the bench, crossing my arms and rolling my eyes to show disinterest, etc. A good example is during my speech, where I initially started very quiet to show my confusion. I would try to keep as calm as I could and then slow increasing the intensity to my very last line. I tried to say the speech in a disappointed manner, versus in a full out angry tone. The only point where I should fully be angry is when I say “I agree with you!”, and then carry out that anger onto the box, smashing it and shaking it in mid air.

For my improvements, my teacher has told me to tone it down. Not so much that I lose completely all movement and feeling, but since I am a generally apathetic character most of the time, it would be inappropriate for me really be overly energetic. For example, in the “water rats” section, I shouldn’t have spun around all that much, as my sudden burst of energy might lead to the audience thinking that the character is bipolar (perhaps she is in different adaptations, but not in ours). I should also try to make up lines if my other cast mates skipped a few, like in our video, there is a large awkward silence in the middle of the scene whereby instead of making up lines to support, I (very) quietly whispered some hints to the actor nearest to me. Making up lines to piece scenes together is a target to achieving a higher band level, which is ultimately where I want to get to next.

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A Little Box of Oblivion: Audience and Performance Space

The setting of absurd theatre is often simple. There’s usually minimalist use of stagecraft. We were able to execute this for our play, needing only a bench, a few broken chairs to resemble a broken bench and a simple park backdrop, along with a few minor props (apart from the box). The park backdrop was very vague, as the audience will not be able to tell where exactly the park is and what time of day it is. Plays of the absurd are produced more like representations of events, so the play must represent the event as opposed to actually be it and act it out in fine detail.

We had a prescenium arch stage, which consisted of simple walls and curtains, and an invisible fourth wall between the actors onstage and the audience. 

To practice my positioning, I blocked my movements in my bedroom. The bed acted as the bench, and I went through my positioning in the scene without saying my text. After memorising my text, I would incorporate that into the blocking and would try to remember my cues. This really helped me during rehearsals, as I had a clear idea on where to move and at what time.

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A Little Box of Oblivion: Genre, Performance Style and Convention

Genre: Theatre of the Absurd

First introduced in the 1940s, after the war.

Absurd: a bizarre way of executing things

TotA arose from many doubts and fears surrounding WW2, seen as decay of traditional moral and political beliefs.

Represents human existence as senseless and chaotic.

Plot often goes around in circles, set in realistic situation but blown out of proportion to the extremes

Setting and timing of play is often unclear

Similar to the moral plays of medieval times, where the audience is left with philosophical questions (the meaning of life, the afterlife, existence of God).

Shakes the audience and reminds them of strange isolation despite being surrounded by others.

It’s intended to make anyone be able to watch this, and go away thinking about the philosophical questions. 

Depending on their situation, members of the audience could sympathise with the character based on previous events. They could see how their situations could become absurd. 

Younger people are more open-minded and can be persuaded easier. 

Older people are usually set in their ways, but probably if they see themselves, they could also think about the deep morals behind the play

To match the style of the play:

There was an absence of character development. All of the characters in ALBOO were given names based on their supposed characteristic, but none of them actually knew each other’s names or stories.

Cool, to me, lacked motivation found in characters of realistic dramas. This was shown by her brushing off the foolish comments by the others, and not really bothering to find out what was in the box and in general not really being that interested. This highlights the aimless nature of the character and the alleged nature of society as well.

The characters, especially Neuro, had to be slow and repetitive to focus on the illogicality of the human race.

The mood of the play had to be extremely contrasting, being serious in one section and then highly comical in the next. This was shown in the dramatic performance by Dick, who is trying to decode the mystery, and the serious speech by Cool makes it go to the other side of the atmospherical spectrum.

The dialogue had to include long pauses and a frequent use of silence. Long pauses were used in Cool’s speech, mostly to give an accentuation to the point being made but partly for the audience to digest what is being said. Again, a use of extremes was in play, with fairly fast paced group dialogue to a frenzied monologue.

Simple stagecraft was used (more detail in next post)

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A Little Box of Oblivion: Character, Context & Plot

Character, Context & Plot

I am playing Cool in the play, who is parked on a park bench, reading a newspaper. Talking about this in class, we mentioned some aspects on Cool’s life, such as how Cool might’ve had a day off, and is an intense businesswoman in the workplace. She is perhaps in her late 20s - early 30s, and has been married for about 2 years. Her husband wants to start a family but she doesn’t have the time for one. The park is her escape from the office and she just wants to read her newspaper. She lives perhaps a sizeable city, not small like a village but big enough to have high rises and office buildings. She is quite objective, and is sarcastic to comments she finds ridiculous.

I wanted my character to come across as quite level-headed, as out of all the characters (apart from Woman) Cool is the only one who does not come to conclusions on the contacts of the box. In order to achieve this, I (tried to) keep as calm and as collected as I possibly could, while delivering my snarky and sarcastic comments. I then slowly increased the intensity, building up until my last long speech. Even through out the speech, it was (to be) said in a more disappointed tone as opposed to a fully blown anger. The only time I am supposed to get fully angry are around the lines “I agree with you, there is something evil in that box!”. To do this, I would raise my voice, and I literally take out my pent up fatigue from the ridicule of the other characters by grabbing the box, smashing it on the ground and shaking furiously in mid-air.

I showed my character through the following ways:

1. Movement: While on the bench, Cool should be in a restful position, perhaps with crossed legs and an arm resting on the bench’s back. I did this to show how Cool is having a day off the office, therefore, she doesn’t need to sit or even act in a business-like way. During the speech, I went back and forth to the other actors while delivering my lines, so that they had something to react to individually, as opposed to them standing there for a while without much to do. Before the speech, I kept my sudden movements mostly to a minimal, apart from the “water rats” segment. I really exaggerated this to show Cool’s sarcasm in this part of the play. However, after re-watching the recording this proved to be a bit too much of an exaggeration and really cut down my chances of being in a higher band. (This will be a target for me to improve)

2. Gestures: The gestures I made were mostly from exasperation; when Dick and Neuro talk about the possibility of a bomb, I knock my head all the way back and “oy” in exasperation. For the “water rats” section, my big gestures were to accentuate the mocking I was giving towards the other actors on their foolishness. Again, this was too effective and ended up not benefitting me. For my speech, I tried to get on many different levels, ex. going low when talking to Doom about the young boy, keeping close to the floor when talking about the chewing gum, etc. I also crossed my arms and put my hands on my hips, and this worked because it showed the impatience and skepticism from the comments being made.

3. Facial expressions and voice: I wanted my character to come across as fatigued and almost distressed from the stupor of the conversations around me. My facial expressions throughout the scene were mostly that of apathy and disbelief, especially when particularly naive comments are made by Neuro or when overly expressive comments are made by Dick. This was particularly effective as it came out clearly in the video recording and added to the pauses and intensity of the speech. As for my voice, it was clear to listen to in the recording. I tried to used different volumes: quieter when muttering under my breath, but trying to enunciate distinctly so that the text could still be heard, and I would raise my voice during the end of my speech (“I agree with you!”). To prepare for the different levels of volume, I set up intensity ratings on the side of my script for each of my lines, 1 being the least and 10 being the most. However, more intensity doesn’t mean more volume, so I had to keep control of that during this scene as well.

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Introduction: A Little Box of Oblivion - REMEMBER!!

Be cynical, don't believe what the others are saying

You are a level-headed and objective character

Business-woman, late 20s - early 30s

Married about 2 years, husband wants kids but busy work schedule claims otherwise

Off day sitting in the park

Setting is in a mid-west city, not small like a suburb but not big and busy as New York City

Be very sorry and apologetic when Woman scolds you

Walk off stage, huffing and puffing with disgust, like you've given up

SCREAM AT END!!!

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Introduction: A Little Box of Oblivion - Sections

For our coursework project, we are splitting the play into two:

Scene 1: From when Doom enters until Doom says "Could be here a long time" on page 10 Cool - Mira Neuro - Charlotte Doom - Kaoru

Scene 2:  From when Dick says "Right, let's examine what we have so far" on page 14, until the end of the play. Irina - Cool Maia - Neuro Camille - Dick

This scene starts after Dick's entrance. Dick is trying to decode Neuro and Doom's theories on the box's contents, while Cool is commenting sarcastically on the speculations being made. Dick announces that he thinks that a severed human head is in the box, and Cool is completely in disbelief. Meanwhile, Dick tells Neuro that, since she called the police twice, the mafia will be after her, and he suggests hiding underground in Cardiff before Cool completely snaps and delivers a long speech on how ridiculous it is that a single box is affecting and scaring so many people. Woman comes back on and scolds Cool for forcefully shaking the box. The cast then finds out that a hibernating tortoise was actually in the box. Woman walks off and Neuro, Doom and Dick shake their heads and giggle at how Cool didn't trust Woman and instead bangs the box like a madmen, which makes Cool walk off the stage. As the remaining three characters sit down, a scream is heard offstage in the direction of Denham Flats.

Morals of this section and the entire play are in the previous post.

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Introduction: A Little Box of Oblivion - About the Play

A Little Box of Oblivion

About the playwright: The play is written by Stephen Bean, who works as a support worker for disabled learners by day and writes plays by night. He has written quite a few successful plays, while winning "Best Original Play" at the All England Theatre Festival 6 times. He is quite a shy person, but states that drama is his hobby and that he's very passionate in the subject.

The play was written in 2004. Things that could have possibly happened that triggered the writing of the play were:

Spain is attacked by terrorists, Al Qaeda takes responsibility (2004)

Ukraine presidential election declared a fraud (2004)

Enormous tsunami takes 200 000 lives in South East Asia (2004)

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, known to the Palestinians as a freedom fighter, passes away. (2004)

Major heatwave kills 20 000 - 35 000 people in Europe (2003)

17 Israeli Civilians are killed by a suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre (2003)

Ongoing protests against war in Iraq (2003)

US troops capture Baghdad (2003)

These disastrous events could have triggered the writing of the play, which is a play of the absurd.

Dialogues in absurd plays often contain repetitive content and clichés. The plot is circular and goes nowhere with close to no evidence of time or place. The main theme of the plot is to be close to that of reality, but to higher extremes until it is way over the top. Despite the hilarity that ensues, the characters are generally quite pragmatic and hope to find meaning in their lives. This is a play on existential thinking - that our very being is a tormented struggle to exist.

Theatre of the Absurd was creates after  World War 2 left the global population in a state of depression and confusion. They felt that human life was meaningless, and this kickstarted the existential view on life. These plays were written to make the audience think and challenge what they believe to be common plot, character and play structures.

In ALBOO, the main moral/ theme is that we should trust people. The crazy events that happen in modern-day life (bombings, frauds, corruption) constantly frame our perceptions on the modern world as being quite negative. In this play, all characters except Woman quickly jump to conclusions about what is in the box. Instead of leaving it be, they make question it and create theories about it. This paranoia is what makes Cool snap and vigorously shake the box, losing Woman's trust and leaving her disappointed. 

The title of the play also hints this; "oblivion", referring to the endless possibilities of the contents of the box but also how humans feel as if we exist in nothingness.