- Timing (in contrast with each other and also the music)
- Multi-role play
- Mime
- More exaggerated status levels
This sequence showed quite a lot of difference from the first, as we were more aware of the others around us, we worked with each other a lot more. During parts of the song, the three women connected in a motherly way. This was shown when the mothers all touched each other’s stomachs when the song stated, “three months on I found that I was in the club again”. This showed a connection and it showed deep closeness that our group believed Mrs Johnstone shared with many people.
Evaluation 1
I believe that overall, my group did a good performance. We put in the correct time and effort needed in order to make it a good quality piece. There was a lot of interaction with the audience through good use of facial expression and, again, the closeness that the mothers showed. The one thing, which I believe may have been improved, was the amount of movement. Some more could have been added but then that would have maybe taken away another one of our drama techniques, use of freeze-frames.
Portfolio Work 2
Response 2
For the second part of our portfolio, we were asked to describe both Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons. We were given the task of comparing the two on appearance, personality and also lifestyle. I believed the two characters to be like this.
Development 2
For this part of the work, we were placed into small groups of threes and were told to create a scene using an interview form or, in order to add drama techniques, hot-seating. My group was made up of Tom, Elliott and myself. Tom played the part of Mrs Lyons, Elliott was PC Jackson and I played Mrs Johnstone. Various questions such as:
How old are you?
How many children do you have?
were asked. This told the audience more about the characters and by certain facial expressions and gestures that were used; it got across to the police officer that the two women were hiding something.
The whole idea of the hot-seating was so the interviewer could find out about certain allegations that had been made against the women. This was:
There have been recent reports of a mother giving away a young child. Also it is said that the child has, illegally, been sold.
So the interviewer had to question his suspects in order to try and make them crack and reveal the truth. At the end of our performance, both women exited the stage with the words,
“I’m not answering any more questions until I’ve got my lawyer.”
This showed that the women were obviously hiding something.
My ideas on both of the women stayed the same, I saw them as two opposites and I believed that in this piece of drama the opposites were well created and my thoughts on the characters never changed.
When playing the part of Mrs Johnstone, I realised I had to be quite bubbly yet also rather secretive at the same time, so I wouldn’t give too much away. I used different levels and tones of voice in order to portray my characters thoughts and feelings. I also used accent so I could really get into the mind of the character and maybe think just how someone from her particular background and culture would react in a situation like this. I used a mixture of large and small gestures, these showed that at the times when she was talking about her children she would use small hand gestures, such as counting them on her fingers, and then when she got up to leave, she stood up boldly as she was standing up for herself. I tried to bring a bit of myself into the character by adding some small comedy lines to keep the audience interested. The facial expressions that I used seemed to link in well with the whole scene, as when she was disgusted at the police officer for accusing her, she showed this on her face.
Evaluation 2
I think that the hot-seating scene was well portrayed. It was well put together and it answered the task that we were originally set. It made me think how someone would react in such a situation and also how to really get into the mind and body of a character. I think the cross-cutting in the scene worked well. It showed two separate rooms with the same police officer and questions but the answers given were extremely different yet very similar. The tones of voices between the two women were different. Mrs Lyons seemed rather pompous and straight to the point yet Mrs Johnstone tried to change subjects and stuck up for herself and her family.
I believe that more questions could have been asked so that the scene would both improve and extend. The questions should really dig into the accused and slowly the audience would see the officer chipping away at both women but the truth would never come out.
Portfolio Work 3
Response 3
The task for the third part of our portfolio was to brainstorm ideas about the two families and create a scene in which cross-cutting could occur between both houses. To start off with, I decided to write down all of the things I thought would be contained within both the Lyons and the Johnstone household.
Our group of 9 was split into two groups, one was the Lyons family and the other, the Johnstone’s. I played the part of Mrs Johnstone. Their were more people on the Johnstone side than the Lyons as we thought the Johnstone’s, as they had so many children, would be able to cause more chaos with more characters.
In my role of Mrs Johnstone, I decided to be very motherly and try to help my children, but when they started to get under my skin, I certainly let them know. The topics we chose to do were Education, Money and Entertainment within these two completely different lifestyles. The differences between the two scenes for each topic were dramatic.
Education
Lyons – calm/reading/spelling/large mathematic calculations
Johnstone – not being able to find homework/arguing/fighting/restless
Money
Lyons – catalogue shopping/not worrying about prices
Johnstone – asking for new things/not being able to afford
Entertainment
Lyons – playing the violin/doing ballet dances/reading
Johnstone – playing cowboys and Indians/with toy cars
We made sure the links between the scenes were crisp and apparent so that our audience didn’t get bored. The link were dramatically different even though they were about the same topic, we even managed to add extra drama techniques, such as freeze-frames and slow motion mime to create a more rowdy atmosphere in the Johnstone house and a calmer more relaxed one in the Lyons house.
Development 3
Mrs Johnstone
Well, what can I say? It’s home isn’t it? Would I like to live in a nice big house, with 9 on suite bedrooms, a good-sized kitchen to cook in every night, a garden where the kids could happily play and a nice flash car? Sure, I’d love that but hey, we can’t all have what we want can we? I mean, well, this place, it’s erm…well it’s ok I suppose. Even though the sleeping arrangements are shocking and the house is a constant tip and my kids play on the road, it’s still home, and if we’ve managed for this long then surely a few more years can’t be any harder can it? I do worry about their health though, I mean, surely all the smoke and fumes that come from the passing cars are polluting them, and, the other day, our Donna-Marie swore she saw a rat scurrying behind the back o’ the house. O’ course Mickey and Sammy sprinted to try and kill it with their catapults. Ha, little bleeders them two! See, even they like it ere’, I know it’s not ideal but, for the time being it will have to do, surely we can put up with a bit o’ mess around the house and what’s a bit o’ sweeping and scrubbing ere’ and there? It keeps me bloomin’ well occupied whilst they’re all off hunting down Cowboys and Indians. Aww, bless em!
Evaluation 3
When creating these scenes, I wasn’t too sure whether or not we could pull it off. I thought that the cross-cutting would have gone wrong and the links wouldn’t be clear enough. Although, I think I was proved wrong. I think that the drama was well performed by the whole group and I liked the fact that it all came together we used all of the practice time provided and managed to finish before the end of the practice. The performance seemed to go well, with nobody messing up his or her lines. When playing Mrs Johnstone, I liked taking the motherly role and being able to interact with my “children” in various ways. The tone of voice I used with Mickey was different to the one I used with my other children. This could have shown the closeness between the two particular characters.
Overall I enjoyed this section of work as I got to work with people that, in this portfolio, I hadn’t worked with before.
Portfolio Work 4
Response 4
For the final task, we were asked to create an off-text scene. There were many things to choose from. I decided to brainstorm some different ideas.
I chose to be both Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons.
When doing my own off-text scene I chose to work on my own. This enabled me to use various drama techniques, such as; cross-cutting, freeze-frames, monologue, thought tracking and spatial awareness. I managed to get all of these into my piece of work. I also used body language and facial expressions to portray my different characters and to show the audience how opposite they were. I used these techniques by relying on my skills and also on props. I used them in different ways for each character to show different levels of importance, class and status.
Development 4
I then put together a small monologue, as Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons. As Mrs Johnstone I spoke about the stresses and strains of being a working mother and having to cook, clean, tidy and wash. My character spoke about how she never gets any help and how it must be for Mrs Lyons, being able to put her feet up whilst she has someone waiting on her, someone there for her when she needs it. Mrs Lyons didn’t ever have to lift a finger. I showed different levels of status. When I was Mrs Johnstone, I was scrubbing on the floor and slouching onto a broom. Whereas, when I played the part of Mrs Lyons, I was sat with my legs crossed and my back in a nice straight posture. This showed my importance and power. For the Mrs Lyons monologue, the character was seen on the phone talking to her new cleaner and arranging a date and time when she could start. This, like in my previous work in portfolio 3, showed the differences between the two women. As one was seen scrubbing the floors and the other was seen on the phone to her cleaner.
My voice changed with both the characters, for Mrs Lyons, it was rather polite, soft and posh. This, again, showed her importance and class. Mrs Johnstone however had a scouse accent and was quiet loud. I did this with her character to show her amount of stress and the level of her voice showed the audience how the anger was bubbling up inside her. I showed this when Mrs Johnstone was scrubbing the floors, she had her head down and only on various parts of the speech, she would look straight into the audience. As well as anger this also told the audience that she wasn’t scared and was used to doing these jobs, as if it was every day life for her.
Evaluation 4
When doing this piece of work, I enjoyed playing two completely opposite characters. I liked how they were so different as I could show this using the different drama skills and techniques that I know. I believe I got across the theme opposites as when playing the characters, I could really see their differences. This helped, as I could then put in more power and feeling behind both of the characters.
If I were to do this piece again, I would maybe include a third character. Linda. This would show that I could use more techniques and, again, it would show the separations and class divisions within the play.
