Jack Jones

This page will contain work for my university

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Bibliography

https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/250357-john-godber-topic-exploration-pack.pdf\

https://www.thejohngodbercompany.co.uk/plays/teechers

https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/13095510.brecht-bouncers-plays-john-godber/

https://www.thejohngodbercompany.co.uk/plays/bouncers

https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/206250-expressive-arts-lesson-element-teacher-s-instructions.pdf

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/602e97c82c62f74dfb3afe7a/t/603e1ef31972671d267a4a00/1614683896103/Teechers+Education+Pack+Aug13.pdf

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Signing off

A massive thank you for following my journey through this blog focusing on John Godber and why I will be using his approach to acting for my final performance. The journey ahead is sure to be a difficult one, but by using Godber’s approach and style I know I can create a performance I will be proud of.

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Above you can see my table for my rehearsal process for my final performance

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How will Godber's work inspire my own?

As mentioned in the previous post, Godber uses a workshop called scales which is something I will look to also use to enhance character development. I am planning on creating my own workshop around this idea as I believe it is a perfect start for my process of figuring out how all the different characters will interact. What I plan on doing is an hour workshop with the main focus on it being developing the characters who are on the train and think about how they would react with one another in all manner of situations. To start the workshop, I will have a warmup exercise, focused on movement. Much like Godber it will use levels 1-10, to start off I will have me and Daley walking around the room at a level of 4, so a steady pace just a casual stroll. Then after 30 seconds or so it will change to a 7, then back down to a 2, finally ending with a 10. These changes will occur every 30 seconds and what it does is allow an actor to explore different levels of how a person would walk. To give me something more to think about I will create scenarios around why these people are at the level they are such as, “you are late for work and you are running to work at a level of 10.” Once this warmup is done it will lead into the main part of the workshop. Continuing with walking around the room at different levels, more developed scenarios will be given, which are relevant to the characters in the performance so that we both can see how they would react with one another. For example, the train driver is about to set off to the next station but along comes a woman with her baby in a push chair asking for him to wait until she gets on. To explore different levels of interaction I would state that the mother is on a scale of around 9 and the train driver is at around a 2. This will then allow exploration of characters and create a dynamic between two characters, giving me and Daley a basis of a narrative. To explore a different take on the scene I would state that the train driver is at a 10 and the mother is at a level of 2 to see how when roles are reversed how the interaction would change and see which suits better for a performance. This would then be done for all 7 characters to see how each would interact with another in given circumstances which I plan would take around 45 minutes to complete. Once this exercise is done I would have a 5 minute reflection in where notes are taken for how each character varied and which levels of performance worked for each which would allow more of a solid structure to be made for the final performance.

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How does Godber prepare his actor's for a performance?

As aforementioned, Godber is inspired by lots of Brechtian techniques an example of this is his use of Spass and Verffremdungseffekt, known as the V-effect. This effect was to ‘make the familiar strange or unfamiliar’. A workshop Godber uses to do this is called Scales. He will get his performers to walk around a space as their character starting at number one, this being a very naturalistic version of the character, as the workshop continues, he will shout out different numbers all the way up to ten which would be the most extreme non naturalistic version of their character. Once he has completed the one to ten part of this exercise, he will decrease the number however he will then add in different scenarios, for example, ‘The class has gone on a school trip to the zoo’. The actors will then interact with one another whilst improvising this scenario, Godber will then continue to call out different numbers so the actors can see all different ways their character would react to this.

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Tales for Wales

The piece I will be performing will be one of mine and my course mate’s creation called Tales for Wales. The plot revolves around the journeys of 7 different people throughout a train journey through Wales, each person has a different story and interacts with one another at some point including the trains driver. The story has no real conventional plot and is more of an epic theatre piece with contemporary issues being mentioned at different points, with character’s having contrasting views throughout. However, there’s only three actors throughout the whole performance, so how do three actors tackle this mammoth task I hear you ask? There’s a simple solution to that and it is multi rolling! What me and my course mate are planning on doing is taking three roles each from the characters who get onto the train, and then having the role of the train driver played by one extra actor. To distinguish between different characters, we plan on using very simplistic props, this could be for example a hat for one character and a pair of glasses for another. In addition to this, each character will have distinguishable voices and accents as it is an easy way to identify different characters and changing voices is something I am well adverse in. Not only will voices be used to showcase changes in character but each one will have different mannerisms and hand gestures also which is something Godber uses to display different characters in his works. Now getting an actual train into a theatre room does cause a problem so to combat this a minimalistic set will be used instead, with chairs representing the formation of the train. No other set will be used throughout the piece as the aim is to keep set as minimalistic as possible so that it is the actors who are the driving force behind the performance. The aim for me as an actor then, is to immerse the audience with the character’s I will be playing rather than relying on set and costume to create an authentic piece.

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Why pick John Godber I hear you ask?

So out of the millions of practitioners, styles and inspirations why did I pick John Godber? The main reason for this choice was I resonate a lot more with John Godber as a person and his views more than any other practitioner. Like Godber, I come from a working-class background so I’m a massive fan of him basing a lot of his stories to his own life and experiences because I have shared a lot of the same things. I love the way he uses minimalistic set and props and uses actor’s as a key tool for his works rather than relying on expensive sets or effects for his works. As an actor it’s a nice thing to see you being the key tool for a performance and the way Godber goes about his work as a practitioner is just a welcoming thing for an actor. All of these reasons combined made John Godber an easy choice as my source of inspiration and guidance for my practical work. His beliefs and ways of working are in tangent with mine.

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What do Godber's performances aim to achieve?

Godber’s main aims with his productions are to influence and educate as many people as he can. A way he does this is through comedy, he uses Brecht’s technique of Spass by using comedy to engage an audience but it also makes them think. He has described Teechers as ‘deadly serious’ as although it made the audience laugh it also made them question the equality of the education system. Like Brecht and Berkoff, Godber believes that theatre is an instrument for social change and due to this he also believes that theatre is for the masses. To produce this theatre for the masses he explores universal themes in his plays, such as working class, unemployment, conservative government, gender stereotypes and uses both his time as a student and as a teacher to write about education. The idea of using theatre as a tool to educate is a fascinating concept and when done correctly can be incredibly effective, however this is something I will not be using as a driving force behind my piece as I plan for it to be more of a stand-up comedy piece which the audience can laugh at. Nevertheless, I will still use the technique of Spass to grasp the audience’s attention at key points.

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Who inspired the mastermind that is John Godber?

Godber’s style has many influences, these from both theatrical and social contexts. As shown in his work Happy Jack, Godber is frequently inspired by the working class and their struggles. Happy Jack was inspired by the life of his grandparents Jack and Elizabeth. His grandfather worked as a collier for 40 years until, due to health reasons, he had to resign. Godber wrote Happy Jack to showcase the lives of the working class in the 1970’s who were affected by the mining strikes, which plays a huge role in this production.

Godber’s general conventions are similar to those of Brecht’s style. Godber uses stereotypical or ‘stock’ characters, however the language and dialect of these characters is mainly realistic and conventional. This is due to the fact he is largely influenced by the northern working class and therefore wants to use their ways of speaking. Godber is influenced by Berkoff and Brecht, we see this influence in his production ‘Bouncers’. He uses the technique of mutirolling across many of his productions, it is seen in Bouncers as the four male actors multirole the four women entering the club. Therefore, the actors need to display precise vocal and physical skills to portray these characters in a way that is beyond just comedic. Godber is also influenced by Berkoff, we see him using rather barren sets, he does this as he believes that the actors’ lines and movement should set the scene and tell the story rather than what is surrounding them.

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What famous plays has Godber done?

John Godber remains one of the most played playwrights in the United Kingdom to date. This is due to some of his most famous works being loved by many such as Bouncers, Teechers and Shakers. Godber wrote his first and most successful play ‘bouncers’ in 1977. At first, it was essentially a two-hander featuring the characters; Tall and Short, who were two men stood on the door of a nightclub. It also featured a male and female student who were refused entry to the nightclub by Tall and Short and by the end of the play it became clear that Tall and short were just two random men who stood on any club door and assumed power. Since then, Godber has changed the play several times for it to be contemporary and the story has changed to 4 bouncers who tell the story of a night out through the eyes of 4 bouncers, 4 girls and 4 boys. There are only 4 actors for the performance therefore they have to multi role, which is something I love to do and would like to explore with my own performance. Another one of Godber’s most famous plays is Teechers which was written in 1984 and published in 1985, first being produced by Hull Truck Theatre Company in 1987 at Edinburgh Festival. It is a play within a play in which three students perform for their teachers, the new teacher Mr Nixon believes all students should be treated equally, which was uncommon in the 1980s, hence why Godber explored this route with Mr Nixon eventually helping the students with their education and drive for school. The play uses multi rolling with three actors playing over twenty parts and uses the bare essentials with very minimal set, an ideology that Godber often uses so that the actors can immerse audiences in the performance rather than using expensive sets or costumes. This is something that intrigues me and has pushed me more towards the idea that I will perform for my final piece. Multi rolling is something that I have always found fun experimenting with and by using Godber’s techniques I can elevate my own performance. Godber continues to write plays set in the present day because he wants his plays to reflect modern day life and its issues therefore also attracting a contemporary audience, which is one of his main reasons for rewriting many of his plays.

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Who is John Godber?

John Godber was born in 1956, Upton, West Yorkshire, England. He was raised by a working-class miner family and in his later years went on to train as a teacher, focusing on drama at Bretton Hall College, which is amalgamated to the University of Leeds. Godber has used his birthplace as a focal point for many of his plays and he is known for his boisterous comedies. In 1984 Godber became the artistic director of Hull Truck Theatre Company, a position he held for just over 25 years, before leaving in 2010. During his time with the Hull Truck Theatre Company, Godber saved them from financial crisis in 1984 with one of his comedies Up ‘n’ Under, he followed this up with multiple successful plays such as Teechers (1987), On the Piste (1990) and The Office Party (1992). Then in the mid 1990s Godber became the third most performed playwright in Britain, as reported by a government arts documentary. Godber, himself, admits that one of his biggest inspirations for his work is Bertolt Brecht saying in an article for newspaper, The Herald that Bertolt Brecht influenced him “hugely.”

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Practical assessment blog

Hello all, as my years at the University of South Wales come to an end, I will be putting on one last masterpiece of a performance with my good friend Daley. However, I simply can’t just throw myself into this performance without preparation and source of inspiration for it. My next few posts will be detailing the work of John Godber and how I will incorporate his work into my own for this final performance. I will be talking about workshops plans and exercises I will use to enhance my own performance as well as explaining why these practices will become useful for me.

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Signing off

I hope this blog has been a fun, informative and engaging piece for you all. The journey through my applied theatre module has had so many ups and has been a real bright spark for my 2021, certainly keeping me motivated through lockdown! That’s me for now I’ll see you guys soon!

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What would I do differently if I could do the process again?

If I was to be given the luxury opportunity of working with the children again, I would go down the path of making activities heavily role play related. This was something the group absolutely smashed in the first workshop, becoming so enthusiastic about it we had trouble trying to break them away from their characters. I would make sure the main part of the session, a role play exercise, would take up the majority of the session. Before this there would be 2 or 3 warmups that would prepare the class for the main session, accordingly. However, to get a good energy about the room I would still push for an exercise that requires everyone to get on their feet; go fetch, buzzy bees, even freeze frames. Structure would be something I would focus on, ensuring that the role play comes to a suitable end, which would smoothly lead into a warm down game. This would give the children a greater understanding of the importance of role play and if my group could help them develop such a critical skill in the world of drama, it would be a pleasure.

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Above you can see one of the games, scavenger hunt, in full flow. Smiles everywhere to be seen, was a great laugh. Yes I am wearing a gorilla onesie.

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I think our biggest success, the role play task, was also our biggest weakness. Everyone ended up getting so involved in the task that us co-facilitators actually found it hard to bring it to an end, failing multiple times and eventually gaining control after changing the original way we were going to end the task. The picture above is the outline of the task we had going into the session, with it eventually ending with a vote on who was the guilty party.

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How did the delivery actually go?

Each game and section had its own benefits, somehow intertwining with the main focus of the session, role play. As a whole, I believe we delivered the workshop rather professionally taking into account everyone’s thoughts and treating everyone equally throughout. Games were explained well and very few queries were ever brought up by the group. Nevertheless, there were times where our composure was lost. This mainly occurred in the ‘more fun’ activities like go fetch and find something that you… Some rather interesting objects were brought to light from everyone, causing myself and other facilitators to laugh or giggle at moments. This often disrupted the room but also caused others to laugh simultaneously which gave the room a nice warmth. We were happy to laugh and joke about with each other.