Now this week, with the words we got from last week we had to either continue with the play from last week or produce a new play from scratch. We decide as a group to produce a play from scratch as our idea from last week was not strong at all. We tried using the ten words still, but thought of other meanings for them. We still had no ideas, then I had an idea of producing a play called “Taking Chances“, just from listening to the song. The group liked this idea then we started firing ideas out what could be involved in the play. We came up with four characters, as there were four group members, our characters are;
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Mum 1 – Sandra Aged 32 (Holly’s Mum)
- Girl 1 – Holly – Aged 17
- Girl 2 – Natasha – Aged 18
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Mum 2 – Julie – 34 (Natasha’s Mum)
Our Locations in the play;
- Houses
- Bedrooms
- Bathroom
- Collage
But we may need to change these has we start rehearsing because of the facilities we are able to access.
The Plot;
- Holly wants to be a model
- She’s Bulimic and Self Harms
- Starts a new collage, were she meets Tasha
- They get close as friends, and Holly reveals her problems.
- Tasha gets spiteful and offers Holly drugs
- They get caught
- Holly’s secret comes out
- Big showdown at the end
Some points might be changed as we start rehearsing.
Next week were going to improvise and see how it runs.
Week 4 11th February 2008
Half Term
Week 5 18th February 2008
After half term we started to talk about the plot we have already got. We then started improvising some scenes that could work well. We then decided with the characters to have two families, a wealthy family and not so wealthy family. Instead of having long scenes to explain what’s happening we decided to have some quick snappy scenes just to show enough what’s going on. For next weeks session I am going to write a draft script from the improvisation scenes we devised today.
Week 6 25th February 2008
I brought the script in that I had written “Taking Chances”. As a group we sat down and read through the script to see what everyone else thought about it also we chose character the characters we chosen was;
- Sandra – Lyndsy
- Holly – Ashleigh
- Natasha – Tasha
- Julie – Heather
We changed a few of the lines; we have also added blackouts and two songs which are;
- Man in the mirror – Michael Jackson
- Run to You – Whitney Houston
We added these songs as we believed they had meanings to the play such as “Run to You” the first verse in the song is talking about a girl who is insecure and needs help, and “Man in the Mirror” because you’ve got to look at yourself and compare how others are in need to you.
Were going to add an instrumental piece when the monologues are being spoken by Ashleigh and Tasha. Heather and Tasha are going to choreograph a movement piece to “Man in the Mirror” for the end of the show. We decided to do some research of some of the topics involved just to make sure were stating the facts right; I am going to research cocaine as it’s the main drug involved in our play.
Research that I found out about cocaine
Week 7 3rd March 2008
Now that we have sorted out what the characters are going to say during the play we decided to start blocking of the scenes so we know were everything is going to take place, it looks really good and the whole group are giving so much energy to the piece which works effectively when rehearsing. Were still waiting on Heather and Tasha to create the movement piece, all we need to work on now is learning lines.
Week 8 10th March 2008
Now that we have done some research we know what exactly what is to be needed when using illegal substance and how it gets betrayed across to the audience. For our play some members of the group haven’t learnt there lines from the script. We thought it would be better as we knew some lines to improvise and see what we come up with as long as it’s along the lines of the plot. The only part we need to work on now is the ending, were Holly dies; we need to try hard to make it look realistic as possible. The next matter we need to look at is fitting the music in at the right time and to add the right props to the piece were going to have a discussion about this next session.
Week 9 & 10 17th – 24th March 2008
Two sessions we were going to have, have been delayed during the Easter holidays so we had no rehearsals during these two weeks we had to create a questionnaire while we were off. We came up with a number of questions about our show. We had to ask 10 people each so we had a number of 40 people in total to get some good results.
Week 11 31st March 2008
This was our first rehearsal since the Easter holiday, we was supposed to tell the group what research we found out from the questionnaires but we never got around to it. Instead we had a rehearsal which personally I thought was rubbish because, members of the group were tired and couldn’t be bothered which was disappointing as we had so many parts to work on. People kept forgetting there lines also and they have had weeks to learn them which was also a let down. Instead of learning lines now I have suggested that they keep reading the script and just say something along the lines it doesn’t have to be word perfect. We have also made changes to the ending, having Holly’s mum finding Holly half an hour after she’s killed herself on cocaine. We have also taken out “Run to You” the song, instead were going to play “Taking Chances” as that’s what the plays called and it’s also about taking chances in life.
Where now going to run the song from the argument scene, until the end of the show. We have decided to take out the movement pieces at the end as we haven’t got enough time left.
Props needed for next weeks session;
- Files
- Skins ( Cigarette Papers)
- Cigarettes
- Diary
- Magazine
- Food
- Bag of Cocaine – (Flour)
- Book
- Bottle of Wine
- Bag of Crisps
- Cans
Week 12 7th April 2008
Week Off
Week 13 14th April 2008
Again this week the rehearsals never went well as people are starting to be lazy and it’s really frustrating as we need to still need to go over the end scene. I also brought all the props in and it was upsetting to find the rest of the group weren’t as committing. We never got any work done really at all this session only that Ashleigh is going to read the monologue out at the end when she’s lying down dead. Hopefully next week the rehearsals will go back to how they were with loads of energy.
Week 14 21st April 2008
Our tutor was off this week and instead of rehearsing some a member of the group went home and the other two didn’t want to do nothing so in the end I went home myself as it’s just wasting time.
Week 15 29th April 2008
This was a last session of rehearsals before the assessment and finally it went really well. But two members of the group are still half hearted. We concentrated mostly at the end scene as we still haven’t organised it still, we have now decided when Holly is dead, and her mum will find the diary and read the monologue. Were going to leave the music running throughout and add a more dramatic effect. The music will now play from the part were Sandra catches them taking cocaine and as the music builds up the action in the scene does also. For the final rehearsal I believe it went the best it could of. Now until the assessment were just going to rehearse when we have time.
