We then improvised a scene in which we had the mother and children preparing for the fathers arrival home. The phrase ‘Everything is ok’ was repeated by the mother, the repetition reinforced the fact that it was not. The tone of voices changed to depict relationships, when the younger child spoke to her sister and said “I’m painting a picture for daddy” her voice was more aggressive and deep whereas when she spoke to her mother the pitch went higher and lighter, showing her desire to be liked. Fear and anxiety was showed in the physicality of each person. If they were open and vocal it showed they were confidant in their father’s arrival, whereas if they were more reserved and closed in, physically it could be suggested they were unsure. Proxemics helped to display relationships, the mother comforted the younger ones, sowing she felt the need to protect them. The older child stayed close to the mother showing that they were close, she wanted to support her. Her dialogue displayed this as all the other children had made statements, trying to get her attention like “Mummy look what I’ve done.” whereas the older child was asking if she was okay.
Rehearsal:
Rehearsal is used to refine, alter and perfect work previously improvised. We initially did this by making sure we all knew what we said and when we said it, this also gave us a chance to listen to each other critically and analyse possible improvements. These were, for example, improving diction and clarity and ensuring people had differing vocal qualities to contrast and highlight the innocence or viciousness of different characters. We then rehearsed our piece over a number of times and decided that we needed a transition between Robert’s nightmare and the family’s preparation for his arrival. Without this there was the chance that the audience would loose focus and the atmosphere would be lost. Consequently we decided that each of the people talking to Robert in his nightmare would say their previous line and the walk one by one into their space. This way the audience would be able to listen properly to all the lines that had been said to Robert during his nightmare and the next person would be saying their line, almost as a distraction, as the previous person walked into their next position.
After discussion, we decided that the audience would be positioned in a semi circle around us performing. This way they would feel the intensity of the nightmare as they would feel almost as though they are in it. Our voices would be much louder to them; with them sat down we would look more overwhelming to them, this idea predominantly featured in the dream scene. In the second scene we wanted the audience to fell as though they are watching us through a window, taking a look into our lives. When one of the children looked out the widow she looked out as it no one was there. The audience would clearly see all facial expressions, especially considering some of the children were sat down and they would be at the same level. Overall the position of the audience allowed them to feel more involved as though they are in the scene with us, consequently giving everything more tension.
Performance:
The opening scene was considered very powerful by the audience; there was a lot of tension. The voices were layered and angry, they greatly contrasted with the child’s voice. This also displayed to the audience the confusion in Roberts head about who he should listen to the sergeant telling him to fight or his child asking him to come home. The voices were tormenting Robert and he showed this distress effectively, as evaluated by the audience. He did this by showing increasing tension is his body, his fingers curling in to a fist, his body constantly moving. His breathing became more intense and fast, his face screwed up almost as though he was in pain. The characters surrounding Robert had their own objectives, their own ways in which they wanted to get through to Robert. The soldier had an angry forceful nature; he marched with an intimidating nature around Robert. The child’s objective was very different, her voice was soft, innocent and questioning, her physicality closed in, making her appear lonely and helpless. I think that it was also effective that Robert did not say anything in the first scene, all the audience heard from him was a gasp when he sat up, woken by his nightmare. This seemed effective as Robert’s pain and confusion seemed only too much to put into words.
In the second scene the audience noticed the effect of the proxemics; the mother figure was higher than the rest of the family, displaying her protective nature. The mother’s hidden emotions created tension. The dialogue also added towards the creation of tension, the mother’s repetition displayed the fact that she clearly was not ok. This made the audience feel pity for her as she obviously needed someone to confide in but her children needed someone to rely on and she had to be that person. There was underlying tension with the mother’s continual repetition but this moment was broken suddenly, making the audience shocked as the mother shouted her dialogue with an outburst of uncontrollable emotion. The children’s physicality was very carefree, clumsy and open, their arms and legs all seemed to have their own leases of life. Something was constantly moving, whether it be their tongue displaying concentration, or their hands fiddling it greatly showed their age and contrasted with the controlled physicality of the mother and eldest child.
Considering all of the techniques discovered, characterisation, physicality, tension, proxemics, dialogue and objectives, they appeared to have had quite a positive effect on our overall performance. Once we were aware of what they were and their potential effect we were able to display emotions, meanings and relationships through many different and interesting ways.