The first character that I played was the sixteen year old girl; I showed my character by using a slouched posture to show my lazy teenage attitude towards things. Although, in the dancing scene I used a lot of energy in my posture and actions when dancing and clear projection to show how excited I was. This helped to show my age by not being concerned about how I was portraying myself. I also used a fast pace when speaking, so that the audience could relate back to people they know that also speak like that. I chose to do this so that they could remember the character because they are based on people they know.
The second character that I also played was the female doctor; I showed my character here by using a very upright and tight posture to indicate that I was powerful and of a higher status than others on stage. I also used a clear diction and posh accent to show how I was well educated and realistic much like normal doctors. When talking to the patients at the doctors, I made sure that I stood still to show I was concerned and listening to them (raised eyebrows, nodding head) and used a warm and friendly tone when replying to show that I was trustworthy.
5. I felt that overall our piece was successful at conveying our intentions. I think this because the audience remained silent and reacted to parts of the piece the way we planned and wanted them to. For example, they laughed at the comical features such as the club scene, yet remained silent and spellbinding when watching the doctor’s scene which involved more crucial information. However, since we were working with the TIE theatre, one aspect is to engage the audience. Even though we were told that we didn’t have to, I think it would have increased the memorability of our intentions if the audience were engaged.
6. In order to make our piece more effective next time, I would spend more time going over the symptoms that you would experience if you had a certain STI. Because this was an important area of our intentions that we spent little time discussing when it’s crucial that the audience know. I would also spend more time on characterisation throughout the piece, because this would create more believable characters that the audience could relate to. And therefore feel a strong emotion towards them when they found out they had an STI, because this is how they would feel in real life and it would have been nice to convey that emotion also.
Sam, Lauren, Ellie, Calum and Phillip’s group
1. A group that I found effective was Sam’s group. This group had the intention of informing the audience about different perspectives on teenage pregnancy. They guided the audience through what to do in certain situations, and the options they are represented with. A moment in their work which I thought was exceptionally effective was the moment when Ellie and Phillip’s characters were about to have sex, but both Sam and Lauren’s characters took on the roles as ‘Angel and Devil’. I thought this worked well because they clearly indicated to the audience what is right and wrong to do in that situation. Sam’s devil character was played with a hunched back posture to show his evil instincts and wore a red costume, because red symbolises the devil. Lauren’s angel was played very angelic and light on her feet when it came to posture and also with a strong diction to show a sense of perfection in her voice.
2. In their piece all characters were in a doctor’s clinic sitting on individual chairs, using proxemics to show the relationships between characters. They all faced the front with blank facial expressions (emotionless) in order to show they were fully concentrated on what the doctor was asking them. The doctor played by Callum, remained silent to show that he was also concentrating, and nodded his head at times to show he understood. He used an upright posture and clear diction to show he was well educated and loud projection to make sure he was understood much like a real doctor would do. They also used flash backs to explain different backgrounds of the characters, I thought this was effective because they blended in with the clinic scene well and were not confusing. They also gave a deeper meaning to the overall intention of what do when faced with pregnancy, because the audience were able to understand the characters more and want to have an input into their decision overall.
3. I thought the piece was very effective because the characters remained in role throughout, and had very convincing characters which meant the audience was kept engaged because they felt a sort of emotional attachment to them. They also used effective music at the beginning of the piece to show the starting emotions of the characters, this worked well because it was modern music which the year nines new, so were immediately engrossed in what action was going on on stage. They also used music at the end of the piece which clearly tied everything together neatly and everything was understood. As well as this, they also contrasted two different perspectives on teenage pregnancy, so it was made clear that there is no right answer only what’s best for you. The contrasting worked effectively because it kept the audience engaged due to the fact that there were two separate stories to follow.
4. Although the piece did work very well, I think it could be improved further by lowering the level of vocabulary used. Because at times the vocabulary was at a very high standard and perhaps not all year nines would understand completely. This could have caused them to lose interest throughout the piece. So if the vocabulary could be changed so that year nines might understand it easier, they may have had an overall better understanding of the intentions. Also, they could have worked on their characterisation a little more, because the female characters were the same at some parts, which lowered the dramatic impact when they were being contrasted. Therefore if the characters differed a little, the performance would have been stronger in a sense that the two separate stories were exploring possible different pathways.
